The Other Scott
by The Lady of the Mists
Summary: A new girl comes to Tree Hill with a secret that links her with the Scott brothers. But little does she know that her return will bring down upon them a long kept secret that will define their future. Will be set in the Charmed world.
1. Lily Bryant

**The Other Scott**

by Lady of the Mists

Chapter One: Lily Bryant

A young girl of seventeen years of age stared at the building crowd as they filled into the gym for the state championship. Her brown hair fell into her face with a look of casual elegance, falling halfway down her back and her bangs framed her wide, fey green eyes.

Lily Bryant bit her lip fretfully as she hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder, trying to make her decision. "Well, here goes nothing," she sighed as she headed into the gym, taking a seat at the very top, where neither one of them could see her. She was ready for them to take notice of her, not just yet.

The game seemed to go on forever, but she noticed that one of them kept looking over into the crowd, his gaze fixed on a man, who kept whispering to his companion. He had a grim look on his face as he watched Nathan Scott. As the game started, she couldn't help but think that everything she'd ever heard about Nathan being a great basketball player was just talk, because she knew that _she _could play better than he was right now. But as the second half started, he began picking himself up and "came out on fire," as the announcer so accurately described.

As it drew to a close, it was surprisingly close, but the Ravens managed to win it by a three-pointer by Lucas Scott. Lily smiled as the fans slowly started filing out of the stadium, about to follow them when she saw a man heading towards the stands she was sitting at.

"I know that you have people to answer to," she heard him say as she ducked behind some bleachers, listening to the conversation Mayor Scott was having with the other man and his partner. "But you built your plan on a kid with a dream. You can't blame him for going a little weak at the knees."

"Weak?" the other man asked, looking up at Dan Scott. "You think he looked weak? Because he looked pretty strong to me." He paused, looking away. "I'll be in touch."

Dan gave a short nod, started to head back up the stairs when the other man spoke. "You know, I didn't pick Nathan because he was the star of the basketball team; I picked him because he's Dan Scott's son. But it turns out the kid actually has a soul." He sighed loudly. "Never would have bet on _that_."

Lily shrank further into her hiding place as Dan walked past her, but he either didn't notice her or she wasn't of enough importance to be noticed. Waiting until she was sure that Dan had disappeared, Lily glanced back at the two men who were talking amongst themselves.

"No, don't worry about it, Bear," the man said firmly. "I'll take care of everything. That kid's going to pay . . . one way or another."

His words set a chill down Lily's spine and she slowly and carefully edged away from her hiding place, accidentally knocking down a mop bucket as she hurried away from the stadium.

"Who's there?" the man demanded, standing up. But he only caught a glimpse of a brunette girl hurrying away before she turned the corner and was out of sight.

Lily was taking deep breaths as she was outside again, making sure that the man and his partner didn't see her.

_This can't be good for Nathan,_ she thought. Even though she didn't know much about him, just the little that her mother had told her in her letter that had been given to Lily after her death, she still cared about him. And she didn't want anything to happen to him.

Making her decision, Lily hurried and managed to catch the last bus that was headed back to Tree Hill. She knew that she had to find Nathan and warn him about the man before something terrible happened.

But she also had the terrible feeling that she was going to be too late before she found them.

--

Lucas Scott glanced up as a teenage girl stepped into the café, looking around them as though she were searching for someone. "Hey, can I help you?" he asked her.

"Um, yeah," she said with a weak smile. "I'm looking for your brother Nathan."

"He just left," Lucas told her just as the sound of screeching tires emerged from the street outside. The girl's brown hair whipped around in her face as she turned and immediately raced outside, Lucas at her heels.

"Nathan!" he yelled, seeing his brother lying next to Haley's motionless form. "What happened?" he asked at seeing his best friend looking so vulnerable and helpless. How could this be happening?

"He just hit her, man!" Nathan screamed.

Lucas yanked out his phone, already dialling. "I'll call 911," he said, putting the phone to his ear. The girl was keeping silent, her green eyes fixed upon Haley.

But his brother wasn't paying attention to either one of them. His dark blue gaze was fixed upon the black car that had hit Haley before crashing. He scrambled to his feet. "Lucas, stay with her," he ordered before racing off to the car. Whatever happened after that, Lucas wasn't sure. He couldn't see Nathan and the ambulance arrived so fast.

"She's been hit by a car, you got to help her," Lucas told the EMT as he loaded Haley into the ambulance. "She's pregnant."

"What's her name?"

"Uh . . . Haley," Lucas told him, feeling strange. He was also having trouble breathing and stringing two words together.

"How long has she been pregnant?"

"I don't know . . . a few we—" Lucas struggled to finished the sentence, suddenly realising what was wrong. It wasn't that he was having trouble, breathing, it was . . . it was . . .

"If—if she . . ." Lucas gasped, trying to push out the last words before his heart gave out and he collapsed onto the ground. He only heard the girl let out a scream of alarm as he was swallowed up by the blackness.

Lucas opened his eyes, looking around him in confusion. The entire street was empty and clear where it had been full of commotion just a few minutes ago. Getting to his feet, he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on when he caught the glimpse of someone walking down the street, a good cry from the café.

"Hey!" he yelled, racing after the man. "Hey, hold on a second!" He caught up to the man and grabbed his shoulder. "Excuse me, could you please tell me what's happening?"

The man turned around and Lucas stared at the man, unable to believe his eyes as he stared at him. He smiled at Lucas's bewilderment. "Hi, Luke," Keith said gently while his nephew continued to gaze at him in obvious astonishment.

--

Lily hated hospitals more than anything else. And being in one where Lucas and Haley were somewhere being operated on was worse than the usual scenarios. The last time that she'd been in one, it had been when her mom died and she was left with nowhere to go.

Closing her eyes and leaning against the back of the chair she was curled up in, Lily remembered her mother's dying words to her before she was pushed out of the room by the doctors.

_"You must go to Tree Hill, my daughter," Alyssa Bryant whispered softly, her fey green eyes staring up at her grieving daughter. "It is time for you to learn your past . . . and your future." _

_"Mum—" _

_"Go, girl," Alyssa told her, determination in her voice. "Promise me that you'll go and you'll find them. Everything will come out as it should be, but only if you find them." She struggled to keep going, the light starting to dim in her green eyes. "Promise me, Lily. Promise me _now_." _

_Lily took a deep, shuddering breath. "I promise, Mum. I—I'll go and I'll find them. But what does my finding them have to do with anything?" _

_"You learn soon enough," Alyssa replied. "In Tree Hill lies the secrets of your past that your father tried so hard to keep you from . . . and your future. Only in Tree Hill will you find the answers."_

_"But, Mum, what answers?" Lily cried. "I don't understand what it is you're trying to tell me! I haven't been trying to find any answers! And I certainly don't want anything to do with my father. He did nothing but abandon us with nowhere to turn. Why should I want anything to do with him?" _

_"It is not him that you should be asking, but them. They haven't done anything to earn your anger, Lillian Gabrielle Bryant. Do not project it into innocent bystanders." Alyssa's voice was firm. "Now, you listen to me. It is time to reveal yourself to them. They will be the only family you have left. Go to Tree Hill and find them . . . and find your destiny." _

Looking up at Nathan as he sank down onto the chair next to her, Lily couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Anyone with _any _feelings whatsoever would feel sorry for the scared boy that was sitting in front of her. Of course, he had every right to feel afraid. His pregnant wife was lying somewhere in this hospital, being prepped for surgery, with a massive amount of injuries, and his brother had just had a heart attack. Both of them could possibly die.

Reaching out, she touched Nathan's shoulder gently and he jumped, startled, before looking at her wildly. "Hey, it's gonna be okay," she told him. She forced a reassuring smile at him. "They're both going to be fine, you'll see."

Nathan stared at her, then shook his head. "I wish that I was as sure as you are," he said, his voice choked.

Lily watched as his shoulders began racking and sobs were emitting from him sharply. Doing the only thing that seemed to make sense to her, Lily wrapped her arms around him, trying to soothe him. "Easy, Nathan," she said softly, rubbing circles on his back. "It's okay; everything's going to be okay."

_Easy, Nathan,_ she thought to herself, hoping he would get the silent message. _It's going to be okay. Just breathe, little brother. I'm here. I'm your sister and I'm here. _


	2. Secrets and Revelations

**The Other Scott**

by Lady of the Mists

Chapter Two: Revelations and Secrets

Lucas watched Lily as she hugged his brother tightly, trying to comfort him but at the same time, looking as though she wanted some comfort for herself. But the picture . . . it seemed . . . so _right_. As though she belonged there, for some odd reason.

"Okay, Keith, I don't understand," he said, looking at his dead uncle. "Who is she? Up until a couple of hours ago, I've never even seen her before. But—" He let out a frustrated groan. "There's just something _about_ her . . . I don't know." Lucas sighed. "She feels . . . familiar, somehow."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, well, that's because you should've known her. Both of us should've, but unfortunately, I didn't know any more about her than you do right now."

"But who is she?"

"That's something you'll need to figure out for yourself." Keith took his arm and led him away. But Lucas could've sworn he heard Lily say, _Easy, Nathan. It's going to be okay. Just breathe, little brother. I'm here. I'm your sister and I'm here. _

Lucas looked back at the girl that was still holding Nathan in that comforting embrace, freezing on the spot. She hadn't spoken; he knew that just by looking. If she had spoken _those_ words, then the entire place would've been in an uproar.

"Sister?" he said wonderingly as Keith returned to his side, looking at the brunette girl before looking back to his nephew. "Little brother?" But that would mean that . . . if that were true, then _that_ would mean that she . . . that she . . . that she was . . .

"That's right, Luke," Keith said softly as Lucas looked wildly at his uncle, blue eyes wide. He smiled and nodded before returning his gaze to his long lost niece. "Lillian Bryant _Scott_, your sister and my niece. Deb and Karen weren't the only women in my brother's life. There was another one. Alyssa Bryant had a daughter by him, one that she intended to keep safe and secret."

Lucas shook his head, unable to believe his ears. "But why? Why would she want to keep her secret?"

"To keep her away from Dan, to make sure that she would never be corrupted by him," Keith responded. "She failed to reckon with the strengths of Lily's connection to the Scott clan, though. Much as she tried to deny it, your sister loves you very much, Luke. She loves Nathan, even though she's barely even met either one of you."

"Why didn't she say anything? Why didn't she come and look for us before tonight?"

"There was no time. She just got to Tree Hill tonight, Luke, and she was there at the game. That's why she came to the café looking for Nathan, because she overheard Daunte talking about getting revenge on your brother. She was trying to warn him before something happened. And she knew that it was going to happen."

"How?" Lucas shook his head. "How could she possible know that something was going to happen, Keith?"

His uncle sighed, taking one last look back at his niece before he led his nephew away. The scene at the hospital shimmered away before it was replaced by the Keith's house. Stepping away from Lucas, Keith walked over to the stairs and began to climb them. "Come on, Luke," he said when his nephew didn't follow.

Slowly, Lucas began to climb the stairs and followed his uncle to his bedroom. Keith was kneeling beside the floor, opening up a loose board underneath the rug. "What are you doing?"

"Showing you something that you need to know about," Keith said as he pulled it free. Lifting a box out from the floor, Keith set in onto the ground before he replaced the floorboard. "Something that I should've told you a long time ago."

Lucas sat down beside his uncle as Keith opened up the box, producing a blue book with a pentagram on it. "What is that?" he asked slowly. "Keith, what _is_ going on?"

"This," Keith said, setting it down on the floor beside them. "Is a part of our heritage. Yours, your brother's, and . . . and your sister's. Luke, have you ever felt like you're different than normal people? Like you don't really belong?" Lucas slowly nodded; he felt like that every day. "Well, that's because you are different."

"I am?"

Keith nodded with a small smile. "You always were. Karen didn't want me to tell you because she wanted you to have a normal childhood, free from our world. But now I think that it's time you were told the truth."

"The truth about _what_?"

"About who you are where you come from. This book is your heritage, all three of yours. It was to be handed down to you guys when you turned twenty, but when I died, things changed, Luke. Because you're going to need to know how to protect yourself against the evils that are going to come after you."

"What are you talking about? What evils?" Lucas wanted to scream in frustration.

"Lucas," Keith said quietly, "there are different kinds of beings out there, some beyond the ordinary, beyond human comprehension. There are some who are evil, who . . . who live in a world of darkness and fight for themselves. Betrayal and treachery are their only allies. They kill mercilessly. The only ones who can stop them are those allied with good. And you and your brother and sister are one of those people. They are known . . . as witches."

--

Lily stepped into her brother's room at the hospital, her heart paining as she saw Lucas lying there helplessly on the bed. _Okay, Lils, you can do this,_ she told herself as she walked further into the room. She knew that nobody was there, but she made sure anyway.

Once she had reassured herself that nobody was there, she sat down onto the seat next to Lucas. "Hey, there," she said, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. "You don't know me, Lucas, but I really need you to come back here. I—I can't lose you now, not now that I've found you guys," she whispered. "There's a lot of people who need you here, Lucas, and you can't give up, all right? Not without a fight."

She thought of Lucas's mom, who was sitting in the chapel, unable to cry or even just talk. All she did was stare in the distance, thinking of her son lying on the hospital due to a heart attack. Lily couldn't blame her; it wasn't supposed to be like this. He was young, he should be able to live life to its fullest, not spend it in the hospital. If he didn't wake up, then Karen was probably going to lose it.

"Your mom's a mess, you know," she said now. "She's really taking this hard, so you need to wake up, for her sake. And Brooke's, and Peyton's. And Nathan and Haley's."

Nathan was still sitting at his wife's side, terrified that she wasn't going to wake up. He had only left once, after Brooke and Peyton had showed up, but had returned a few hours later, only to go into his wife's room and hadn't left since.

"They need you here, Lucas, because their lives aren't going to be the same without you. And you need to wake up, because you still have so much left to do. Become a husband . . . a father . . . a brother," she added more to herself than to Lucas. "Please, Lucas, I don't want to lose my brother before I even get to know him. I know I should've come before, but I . . . I . . . but I'm here now. And I don't want to lose that chance again." She smiled at him. "And I hope that you don't either."

It was only then that she realised that there were tears running down her face and she dashed them away, standing up and sniffling slightly. "Come on, big brother," she said, using the tender name. "You wake up soon, because I'm never going to forgive you if you don't."

She smiled down at him before she turned around and froze. Brooke Davis was standing behind her, an expression of shock on her face as she looked from Lily to Lucas and then back again.

And then she said the one thing that Lily was expecting to hear. "Did—did you just call him 'big brother'?" she asked, almost dropping the cups of coffee that she was carrying in her hands. Lily rushed forward and caught them, setting them on the table before she dropped them.

"You really need to watch yourself," she told the older girl without looking up. She knew there was no way that she was going to be able to get out of this.

"Forget about that, missy," Brooke snapped, "and answer the question. Did you just call _Lucas_ your big brother?" She was gaping at Lily.

Suppressing a sigh, Lily turned to look at Brooke. "I am not going to answer that question," she said and plunged on as Brooke opened her mouth to argue. "Because I want to tell Lucas and Nathan that _first_. And you and I know perfectly well that you know the truth, so we'll just pretend that you didn't hear anything until I've had the chance to tell them. Please, Brooke?" she added when the other girl closed her mouth. "Please?"

Brooke shook her head. "How did I end up in this situation?" she grumbled. "Fine, I won't say anything. But . . . you're really Luke's sister? Nobody ever said anything about Dan having a daughter."

"That's because nobody knew," Lily said quietly. "My mom stayed away from Tree Hill when she found out about Lucas—and later Nathan. She didn't want Dan to know about me."

"Probably with good reason. But . . . wow. I really didn't expect Dan to have a daughter. He's not exactly the kind of guy who would breed girls."

"Funny," Lily said dryly. "How's Nathan doing?"

"He's, uh . . . he's scared," Brooke said softly. "But he's holding on."

"And how are you doing?"

"About the same," Brooke admitted as she took Lily's seat next to Lucas. She squeezed her boyfriend's hand before looking up at his sister. "So that's why you've stayed here, because you're worried about him. Because he's your brother."

"That and I'd be way too worried if I just took off, anyway," Lily answered, glancing towards Lucas. "For him and Haley both. Not to mention the damage that Nathan's probably going to do to himself if Haley and the baby aren't okay."

"They're gonna be okay," Brooke said firmly. "All three of them. They've _got_ to be okay."

"Well, unfortunately, destiny doesn't often ask what its recipients want for themselves," Lily responded. She smiled at Brooke. "Listen, I'm gonna go check on Nathan, see if I can get him to eat something."

"Okay," Brooke agreed. "I'm gonna stay with Lucas for awhile." Lily nodded as she was about to step into the hall. "Oh, one last question?"

Lily looked back at her. "Sure."

"How old are you? I mean, are you the same age as them or what?" Brooke wanted to know.

"Younger than Lucas, older than Nathan," Lily replied simply. "Actually, I'm a little more than a month younger than Lucas." Brooke nodded and Lily left the room, leaving her brother and his girlfriend behind.

Brooke looked down at Lucas, a smile on her face. "A little sister, huh? You'd better wake up, because she deserves to know what a great guy her big brother is, all right?"


	3. Discovery

AN: Hey, guys, I've changed from stuff from the first two chapters, so you may want to go back and reread them. Thanks for the reviews!

**The Other Scott**

by Lady of the Mists

Chapter Three: Discovery

"Witches?" Lucas echoed. He let out a disbelieving laugh. "Come on, Keith, there—there isn't such a thing as witches. I mean, honestly, we can't be. Th—this is crazy," he said, walking away.

"Luke, don't walk away." Keith's voice was firm. "I never planned on springing this on you this way. And truth be told, I never expected it to be like this. But you had to learn the truth eventually. Just as your brother and your sister did."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Karen didn't want me to. She wanted you to have a normal childhood, Luke, free from magic, from demons, just to be . . . ordinary and everyday." He sighed. "We planned to tell you when you were twenty years old, Luke. But when the school shooting happened, things changed. Your mom didn't know how to tell you."

Slowly, Lucas turned to face his uncle, trying to decide whether or not this was crazy. "But Keith—"

"I know that it's a lot to take, but these beings that kill witches, they're called demons. They won't care whether or not you've rejected your heritage, Luke. To them, it _doesn't_ matter. Even if you decide not to do this, to strip your magic and stay as far away from the magical world as you can, it will not matter. Because when you have children of your own, they _will_ have magic. And demons will be coming after them. And then you'll have no magic to protect them with. I'm not going to deny that this is . . . a dangerous path. But you three have been blessed with a special gift. Every witch has something to offer the world, to protect each and every individual. It's a lot to carry on your shoulders, but it's the one you were destined for. Luke, you can't run away from your destiny. Eventually, it catches up with you."

"And what about Lily? How does she fit into all of this? How does _this_ connect with how she knew that Daunte was going to attack Haley?"

"Because she unconsciously used her powers. Your sister's powers are strong, Luke, one of the strongest in the history of our family. She has the gift of foresight, which is very rare in the family, as well as cyrokinesis. It was her foresight power that allowed her to know that something was going to happen to Nathan and tried to warn him beforehand."

Lucas shook his head. "Does—does she know about this? I mean, does she have _any_ idea that we're . . . witches?" The word still sounded strange on his tongue.

"I don't think so. Alyssa never got around to telling her about that particular part of her history, if her mother even knew about it. There's no telling what that woman knew."

"And what about Nathan?"

"No, Dan made sure that your brother never knew about that part of his heritage, in case Nathan started falling into the side of good. See, the only way Dan wanted any of you to become witches is if you were joined with evil. There are two different kinds of witches, Luke. Some are good, and some are evil. And you can bet that Dan isn't one of the kind who are good."

"Is that why you're telling me about all of this now? Because Dan is one of these evil witches?" Lucas wanted to know. "And . . ." He sighed, running a hand through his blond hair. "Why does all of this start to happen right when our sister walks into our lives?"

"Because Dan knows the amount of power that she possesses. She's one of the strongest witches in our lineage, Luke, and you and Nathan are right next to her. He did not want you on the side of _good_ when you unravelled your destiny, your heritage."

"But, Keith—"

"Luke, you don't have to decide all of this right now. Your destiny may not be to be a witch, but you are a part of the magical world, even if you decide to reject your heritage. No one can stop being who they really are, even a witch. You can refuse your destiny, but you are a witch by birth." Keith smiled at him and replaced the Book back where he had retrieved it. "This will be here in the same spot when you go back. _If_ you decide to go back," he amended.

Staring at the spot where the Book had been carefully hidden, Lucas got to his feet, walking after his uncle. But he kept glancing back at the spot where it lay. He knew that he was walking down a path that would forever change his life. One way or another, everything had changed.

--

Lily walked into Haley's room, her heart twisting when she saw her sister-in-law lying so helplessly on the bed. Her brother was sitting next to his wife, holding her hand in his own, the grief written on his face. _I'm not very good at this sisterly support,_ she thought as she walked over to Nathan, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," she said with a small smile as he looked up at her. His dark blue eyes were overbright, as though he'd been crying. Which, most likely, he had. "It's been hours since you've had something to eat. Come on, let's go down to the cafeteria and see how bad the food is here. Hospital food is the worst," she added teasingly.

When Nathan didn't so much as respond, she shook his shoulder, trying to get his attention. "Nathan, this isn't going to bring her back any faster," she told him, badgering gone. "She's gonna back to you, all right? You're not going to lose her."

"You don't know that," Nathan whispered. "This is all my fault. It's my fault she's here and I—I can't do anything to help her! I'm just sitting here and can only hope she'll be all right!"

Lily walked in front of him, squatting beside him and placing both hands on his free hand. "Listen to me, Nathan Scott," she said firmly. "Haley is going to be _fine_. Lucas is going to be fine. And your baby is going to be fine. Everybody is going to be okay." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Just believe me, Nathan. Everything will be all right in the end, you'll see." Nathan looked at her, straight into her green eyes, and managed a weak smile. "All right, now come on, let's go get you something to eat."

She helped him to his feet and was about to pull him towards the door when Nathan turned back, his head snapping towards his wife. "Haley?" he whispered in an awe-struck voice, sounding as though he didn't dare believe it.

Looking towards the unconscious girl on the bed, Lily realised that her brown eyes were opened slightly and she was looking at her husband weakly. "Hi," she said, her voice faint.

"Hi," Nathan said, laughing with relief as he hurried back towards her, kissing her forehead tenderly and holding her against him, making sure not to press hard so that he didn't hurt her any more than she already was. He felt her hug him back, reassuring him she was all right.

"Who's she?" Haley asked suddenly and Nathan suddenly remembered that Lily Bryant was still in the room. He looked back at the newcomer as she walked over to the bed.

"Lily Bryant," she said. "It's nice to meet you." She smiled at Haley, who nodded tiredly. "I . . . saw the accident and I've been hanging out here to make sure you and Lucas were okay."

"Lucas?" Haley echoed, looking at her husband. Her brown eyes were confused and worried. "What happened to Luke?"

Nathan glanced towards Lily, who shook her head. It didn't seem like the appropriate time to tell her that her brother-in-law had a heart attack. "I'll tell you about it later, after you get some rest," he told her.

"Well, I should leave you two, then," Lily said with a warm smile. "I'm glad that you're okay, Haley." She waved goodbye to them as she left the room. Nathan had the feeling that she was going back to Lucas's room; she'd been heading back and forth between them ever since they'd been admitted.

Nathan looked back at his wife. "I don't what she's even still doing here," he commented softly. "It's nice of her, but . . ." He didn't know how to finish the sentence, so he left it hanging.

Haley was looking where Lily had disappeared. "It's weird," she whispered softly, "but she reminds me of Lucas."

"She does?"

Nodding, Haley blinked tiredly up at Nathan. "I don't know what it is, but there's a definite resemblance to him in the face," she said softly. "They've got the same smile, the same nose . . ." She shook her head. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she was a Scott."

Nathan felt a chill go up his spine and he looked towards where Lily had disappeared. He remembered when she had held him in her arms right when they'd first got here and he'd collapsed into her arms, wanting the comfort of a sibling. And it had felt so natural, lying in her arms, as though . . .

_No,_ he thought, trying to dismiss the thought. _No way. _

But if there was one thing that he knew about his father, it was that he probably wouldn't have stopped with Karen or his mom. There was a pretty good chance that he'd had relationships with other women. So was it such an impossible thought that Dan had gotten another woman pregnant? And now her child was coming back to Tree Hill to find them? To find her family? Her half-brothers?

"Nathan?" Haley took his hand and squeezed it. "Nathan, what is it?" she asked.

"I don't know, Haley," he admitted, looking back at her. "But do you really think that she could be a Scott?"

"Yeah, I think she could," Haley answered, looking puzzled at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"Because . . ." Nathan took a deep breath and looked at his wife straight in the eye. "I think that she might be my sister."


	4. Brothers and Sister

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Four: Brothers and Sister

Lily stepped out into the cool air of Tree Hill, walking out of the hospital as she gazed out onto the horizon. She could remember watching the sunrise each morning with her mom since she was a little girl. Now it was different; she was standing alone as the sun started to climb higher into the sky.

"Mom, why did you ask me to come here?" she whispered. "You said that you wanted me to keep me safe, away from my father. But sending me here was stepping directly into the lion's den. If you wanted to keep me away from him, why did you send me here?"

"Maybe she wanted you to find us." Lily's head shot towards her younger brother who approached. Nathan took a seat on the bench she was standing next to. "We just got the test results for the baby," he told her. "He's okay. As far as the doctors are concerned, we shouldn't be worried about any repercussions because of the accident."

Her face broke into the first true smile that she'd had on her face in days. "Nathan, that's _great_!" she said. "I'm so happy for you and Haley."

"Thanks," Nathan said, smiling back. "And . . . thank you, for being here. You've been a big help the past couple of days. I don't know if we would have gotten through it without you."

"You would've found a way," Lily told him. "You're strong, Nathan. I know you can survive anything that life throws at you."

"I don't know about that," Nathan sighed. "Before I met Haley, I wasn't exactly the best person that I could've been." He shook his head, obviously disgusted with himself. "That me was a completely different person. It doesn't even feel like me."

"Well, we grow and adapt to our surroundings," Lily pointed out. "With every choice, we can alter our lives and the lives of people around us. Some choices change those more than others do. For better or for worse," she added. She paused and changed the subject. "So, uh . . . any word on Lucas? Is he awake?"

"Not yet," Nathan admitted, shaking his head. "I'm sure Brooke will send somebody out here to find us the moment that he is, though."

Lily nodded, momentarily distracted by the mention of the one person—the _one_ person—who knew her true identity and her reason for being here. She really hoped that the girl would be able to hold her tongue until Lucas was awake for her to actually tell him the truth. If things had gone the way that she'd wanted them to, then both of her brothers would have known who she was by now. But things rarely went as planned.

Still, Lily wanted to tell her brothers at the same time who she was. She wanted to tell them together that she was their sister.

Too bad that hope died within the space of . . . oh, about thirty or so seconds.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Nathan interrupted her thoughts. Lily looked up at him and shrugged.

"Depends on the question," she replied. "But I reserve the right not to answer it after you ask."

"I think that you can answer this question," Nathan responded. "It's a yes or no one." Lily stared at him, then waved her hand for him to continue. "All right. Here goes nothing." He took a deep breath, shoving his hands into his pockets as he faced her directly.

"Are you Lucas's and my sister?"

For a moment that seemed like it had lasted until the end of eternity, Lily stood frozen, staring at her little brother, her green eyes meeting his dark blue ones. She tried to move, to say something, but her body wasn't responding to what her brain was telling them.

Feeling cold shivers fly up her spine, she wondered vaguely for a minute if he had overheard her and Brooke talking, but immediately dismissed the idea. He'd been in his wife's room, barely leaving her side. There was no way that he could have overheard.

"What?" she finally managed to ask, prying her tongue from the roof of her mouth. "What did you just say?"

"Are you Lucas's and my sister?" Nathan repeated, taking a step closer to her, trapping her so that she couldn't run away. Not that she had any intention to. She hadn't come to Tree Hill just so that she could run away now.

Taking a deep breath, Lily looked up to the hospital, straight at her older brother's room. She could see it from here.

Then she returned her gaze to Nathan. "Did Brooke tell you?" she asked him, momentarily thinking that her brother's girlfriend had broken her word and told him.

Nathan's eyes widened at her words. "Brooke knows about this?" he demanded, sounding outraged.

"She—she overheard me talking to Lucas when you were with Haley," she admitted, trusting him with the truth. "And let's just say that I said some things, called Lucas something that would only lead to the conclusion that I'm your guys' sister."

Nathan nodded mutely. "So your mom . . . she was . . ."

"Alyssa Bryant," Lily answered quietly. "You probably don't know her; she left Tree Hill before you were born."

"Yeah, and apparently taking something of Dan's with her," Nathan pointed out. Lily looked at him sharply, but he was smiling. "Though I can kind of understand her reasoning. Up until recently, Dad was . . . a really bad guy. I mean, she probably knew what he was like and was trying to protect you from him."

"He's changed?" Lily asked doubtfully. "I don't think so, Nathan. People like Dan don't change."

"But he has," Nathan insisted. "He did something for me I—I never would've expected from him." Whatever this was, it disturbed him greatly.

Lily frowned, glancing at his hand where the remnants of injury lay on his knuckles. She knew that her father was in jail for the murder of the man who had hit Haley with his car. An idea suddenly formed in her head and she looked up at her little brother sharply.

"It was _you_, wasn't it?" she asked slowly, inclining her head towards his hand. Nathan flinched and covered his hand, but it was too late. She had already seen the truth, both on his hand and in his eyes.

"I didn't mean it," he whispered, panic rising in his eyes. "It's just . . . I saw Haley lying in the street and I—"

"Shh." Lily reached out and touched her brother's cheek tenderly. "Shh. It's okay. It's all right, Nathan. Easy, little brother. Don't worry," she told him firmly. "Nobody's going to hear anything from me. Besides," she added, "I'm not so sure that he was beaten to death, anyway."

Nathan raised his bleak face towards his newly found sister. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

"I don't know how much of the accident you saw, Nathan, but I was there. That guy hit that wall so hard . . . and he was driving so fast when he hit Haley . . . it's very possible that he could've died on impact in the car accident, from internal injuries."

"You think?"

Lily nodded, linking her arm around her brother's. "Yeah, I think so. It's possible, anyway." Brother and sister were quiet for a minute before Lily pulled away from him. "Uh, listen, I need to ask you a favour."

"Okay."

"Can you not say anything about this right now?" she requested. "I really planned on telling you and Lucas together and . . . and I really wanted you two to be the first to know. That part kind of failed with Brooke, but . . . I don't want the entire town to know before Lucas wakes up and somebody else has the chance to tell him before I do."

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, we let this one out and it'll be on the midday news today."

"Can you please not say anything? Just for a little while?"

Her little brother hesitated, seeing the desperation in her eyes. "Well, can I at least tell Haley? I really don't like keeping secrets from her."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you can tell Haley about me, but make sure that it's just her and nobody else is listening, all right?" Nathan nodded. "All right. Thank you," she added gratefully as she sat back down on the bench, watching the sunrise.

"No problem," Nathan answered as he sat down beside her. "So, if you don't my asking, where's your mom at, anyway?"

"She's dead." The words came out bitterly in her mouth as she said them. "Mom was sick for a long time before she died. Before it happened, she knew that she wasn't going to get better, so she made me promise that I would come here and look for you guys. My father's side of the family is the only family I have left, now."

"I'm sorry," Nathan told her. Lily looked at him. "About your mom. That sucks."

"Thanks." She smiled at him. "It was almost a year ago, though. I'm done wallowing." Getting to her feet, she walked a few feet before looking back at him. "So, I have a question for you: do you really play your basketball games that badly in the first half?"

Nathan laughed. "Oh, jeez, don't tell me that you were there for that?" he said, shaking his head.

Lily grinned wickedly at him and he chuckled again. "Well, let's just say that I was having a bit of a bad night." His sister looked at him, confused, and he shook his head. "It's a long story. Also has something to do with this." He held up his wounded hand. "I'll tell you about it later, once things have cooled down at little."

"All right," Lily agreed as Brooke came tearing out of the hospital doors.

Her face was flushed from running as she came to a stop before them, taking huge gasps of air as she tried to catch her breath. "Lucas is awake," she said, grinning wildly. "Come on," she added, pulling them along. "He's asking for both of you."

"Wait, _both_ of us?" Lily echoed as she was hauled into the hospital again by her brother's girlfriend.

Brooke only grinned at her as she and Nathan were pushed into Lucas's room. The eldest Scott looked around at the two of them as they entered, looking weak and tired and drained, but happy to see them. "Hey, little brother," he said, grinning at Nathan. Then his blue eyes turned towards Susan, who suddenly felt shy at looking at her elder brother. But all the feeling went out of her when she heard his next words. "Hey, sis."


	5. Telepathy

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Five: Telepathy

Lucas watched Lily as the blood drained from her face so dramatically that he thought that it was a pretty good thing they were in a hospital, because she looked about two seconds away from passing out. Her green eyes seemed huge on her face and she took an unsteady step towards him.

"What—what did you say?" her voice came out in a half-whisper, but he had the distinct impression that to her, it seemed like she was shouting.

"Hey, sis," he repeated gently, keeping his eyes on Lily while casting a glance towards Nathan. The youngest Scott already knew; he could see it in his brother's eyes. Probably not for very long, but still knew.

"Uh . . . I'll leave you three alone," Brooke said hastily, shutting the door behind her as she left quickly. Lily was still staring at Lucas, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

"How—how did you know?" she whispered, taking another step closer. Lucas could see tears starting to form in her eyes as she stared at him, never tearing her eyes from him.

"It's, uh . . ." Lucas shook his head, his mind flashing back to his final moments with Keith before he'd woke up. "It's a long story; I'll tell you later."

Lily shook her head, tearing herself from her shocked state. "What is it with you Scott boys and long stories?" she asked, trying to pull some light into the situation. Nathan managed a weak smile.

"Do I want to know what that means?" Lucas asked, glancing questioningly at his brother, who shook his head. Nathan was looking nervous at the subject and his gaze drifted, unconsciously, towards his right hand. Lucas caught sight of some bloodied knuckles before his brother covered it up.

"I'll explain later," Nathan said quietly. Lucas frowned at his brother, but nodded as Lily took another step further towards him, finally reaching his bed and slowly sinking down onto it, looking hesitant.

Lucas smiled at his little sister, reaching out and pulling her against him, stroking her dark hair reassuringly. He could feel her shaking underneath his touch as he rubbed her back soothingly, trying to calm her down. As he continued to hold her, he could feel her fear ebbing away.

_Easy, little sister, _he thought gently. _Don't be afraid. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. _

Lily raised her head, her green eyes meeting his blue ones and he knew instantly that she had heard his inner thoughts. Before either one of them could comment on this, Nathan walked over to the seat next to Lucas's bed and sat down.

"So, how did you know about this, Luke?" he wanted to know. Lily sat up straight, wiping her tears away as she looked towards Lucas expectantly, who suppressed a sigh.

"Well, you might as well get comfortable," he told them. "It really is a long story." When they were settled, he searched for a way to begin. "Nathan, you remember after the car accident at the bridge, you told me that you saw Keith in the water?"

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well . . . Keith came to me when I was unconscious," Lucas said quietly, noticing Lily's confused look as she looked between her two brothers. "What's the matter, Lily?" he asked her. Nathan looked towards their sister as she bit her lip.

"Who's Keith?" she asked, embarrassed.

Lucas winced, forgetting for a moment that she hadn't been here for very long and a bit disappointed that she had never known Keith, had never gotten the chance to know him.

"He was our uncle," he told her. "Actually, he was the one who raised me after Dan left my mom and met Nathan's mom, Deb."

"There was a school shooting a couple of months ago," Nathan continued, casting a careful glance at Lucas. "And Keith went inside to talk to the shooter, Jimmy Edwards, and instead was killed by him, before Edwards killed himself."

Lily shivered slightly as Lucas shifted in the bed. "Jimmy was a friend of mine," he said quietly, "and after I joined the basketball team, we sort . . . drifted apart. I tried to fix things with him, right before the school shooting. But I guess it was already too late."

He looked up as Lily slipped her hand into his. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on it. "It wasn't your fault, Lucas," she told him. "He made his own choice. Nobody can make other people's choice for them. They each have to follow their own path."

Lucas nodded, his mind flashing back to what he had just seen before he had woken up.

_"I still can't believe that Jimmy killed you, Keith," Lucas said, staring down at the still bodies of Jimmy and Keith. _

_"Then, why do you?" the ghost of Keith asked him. "Jimmy Edwards was your friend, Luke, you knew him, you . . . you were kind to him! After everything that we've seen, don't you think that—that kindness had an impact?" His uncle was looking at him in desperation, but Lucas couldn't understand this, any of this! But if what Keith said was true, then . . . _

_"But if it did, then you would still be alive," he said, tearing his eyes away from the scene to look at his uncle's ghost. _

_"Do you really believe that?" Keith demanded. "Luke, look into your heart, okay? It may be flawed physically, but it's—it's a good one and it is what makes you you. Luke, you've changed people's lives by opening it up. Don't close that off! Luke, just look around this hallway. You were here that day, what did you see?" _

_Lucas wanted to scream with desperation, with confusion. "I didn't see anything!" he protested. _

_"Open your eyes, Luke!" Keith ordered, appearing behind him. Lucas turned to face him. "Open your eyes . . . the way that you have opened your heart. Open your eyes, Luke. Open your eyes, Luke. Open your eyes, Luke. Just open your eyes, Luke. Open your eyes, Lucas." _

As the gunshot once again rang in his mind, Lucas was pulled back into the present and realised he was breathing heavily. Trying to calm down, he looked back at Lily and Nathan, who were looking at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked him. Lucas nodded. She didn't look convinced, but let it go. "Okay, what do you mean, you saw our uncle?"

"I don't know," Lucas said, his voice strained. "It felt . . . so real. But he was the one who showed me you guys in the waiting room and . . ." He looked towards Lily. "And I heard you call Nathan 'little brother'."

"Wait, what? I don't remember you calling me that," Nathan protested, looking towards Lily, who looked between her two brothers, her green eyes reflected by the bedside lamp. "I mean, not in the waiting room, at least. When we were outside . . ."

"I didn't," Lily told him. "At least, not aloud. I only thought it." She was looking towards Lucas now and although they didn't share the thought, both of them were thinking the same thing. He had read her thoughts while he had been with Keith.

"You thought it?" Nathan turned towards Lucas now. "Wait a minute, so how is it possible for you to even hear her thoughts?"

Lucas sighed, knowing that he had to pass along the message that Keith had told _him_. "You guys, there's something that I have to tell you about when I saw Keith," he told them. His brother and sister looked at him intently as he took a deep breath. "He told me that—"

Just as he was about to tell them about this whole thing about them being witches, the door to his room was flung open and his mother appeared, looking relieved to see him lying awake and alert. "Lucas!"

Lily smiled as Karen rushed over to her son and hugged him tightly. "We should probably give you guys a few minutes alone," she told him. "Lucas, we'll talk about this later. Come on, Nate, let's go get some actual food for him and Haley and not some of this hospital junk."

"That's not the worst idea that I've ever heard," Nathan said with a grin. "See you, Luke."

"Bye," Lucas said as the door closed behind his brother and sister.

--

Lily stared out of the window of Nathan's apartment as she lay on the sofa. Nathan had offered it to her until she had found a more permanent place to stay after she left the hospital. Her green eyes watched the headlights of the cars as they went by as she thought about what Lucas had said right before his mother had walked in.

Slowly, she sat up, drawing the blanket around her as she leaned against the arm of the sofa. Closing her eyes, she slowly cast out her thoughts, imagining Lucas lying in the hospital in his room there. _Lucas? _she said gently and quietly, not sure if this was going to work. But if it did, then she didn't want to wake him up if he was sleeping. It had been a long day, for all of them. _Lucas, are you asleep? _

_Lily? _

Her heart soared when she heard her brother answer her, hearing his voice as clearly as though he were standing right there next to her. _Hi, Lucas,_ she said cheerfully. _I'm sorry, did I wake you? _

_No,_ Lucas said, though his mind-voice sounded tired. _I wasn't asleep yet. What are you still doing up? _

_I couldn't sleep. All I kept doing was thinking about what you said about Keith and . . . _

_Yeah. I know that it's pointless to ask, Lily, considering that we're talking miles away without the use of telephones and using our thoughts to communicate, but . . . do you believe in magic? _Her brother's voice was hesitant, not at all sure how to proceed.

_What do you mean, like card tricks or more of the supernatural kind of magic? _Lily asked, frowning.

_Uh . . . more along the lines of the supernatural. You know, like . . . witches and demons and spells, all that kind of stuff. Like there's a whole other world that we don't even know that we're a part of. But you feel like you don't belong to this one. _

Lily paused as she settled back into the blankets, shivering slightly. _Every day, _she whispered. _I feel like that every day. And in answer to your question, yes, I do believe in that kind of magic. I always have. Why do you want to know, anyway? _

_Because when I saw Keith, he told me that we're witches. You, me, Nathan. I guess he and Mom's baby will be too, but . . . he took me to his house and showed me this trapdoor. It had this book in it; he called it the Book of Shadows. I don't know. I guess it's part of our heritage, if this dream was real. _

Slowly, Lily sat up and pushed her blankets aside. _Luke, show me where Keith's house is, _she ordered. _I'll go and see if I can find this Book of Shadows. Maybe it can give us some answers. _

Moments later, Lily was pulling on her jacket and heading out of the apartment, closing the door quietly so that she wouldn't wake the neighbours. Nathan was still at the hospital, staying with his wife. As her husband, he was allowed to stay past visiting hours.

Walking down the quiet streets of Tree Hill, Lily finally found the house that Lucas had shown her. _Is there a key, somewhere?_ she asked when she found the door was locked.

_Yeah, underneath the turtle, _Lucas answered. She frowned at him, but spotted a stone turtle in the window. Crossing over to it, she pulled it out and found the key.

_Okay, we're in,_ she said, sliding the key into the lock and it clicked open. The door creaked open and she went inside, flipping on a switch. It immediately went on, but as thunder and lightning emerged, the lights flipped off. Lily jumped as the lights flickered off and she whirled around.

_There should be a flashlight in the laundry room,_ Lucas told her. _Go straight ahead and turn to your left. _Lily obeyed his instructions. _It should be in the drawer right next to you. _

_Got it. _Lily opened the drawer and produced a flashlight, flicking it on. She half-expected it to turn off, but the steady light remained on. Still, she pocketed batteries to be on the safe side. _Okay, now where was this book you were talking about? _

Lucas began giving her directions. Immediately, Lily climbed up the stairs and down a long corridors until she reached the last bedroom there. She stepped into the room pushed the rug out of the way, revealing a loose floorboard.

_All right, if this isn't what you're talking about, then I don't know what is, Luke,_ Lily told him sarcastically as she pushed the floorboard out of place and discovered a dusty old box lying underneath the loose floorboard. It looked as though it had been moved recently.

Pulling it out from the floorboard, she replaced it, blowing off dust on the box and waving it away from her. Removing the lid, Lily pulled a large blue, leather bound book. On the very front of it was a golden pentagram.

Slowly, she opened the book and grinned when she found the first page, with read in a elegant, curly script, _The Book of Shadows. _


	6. Learning the Truth

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Six: Learning the Truth

As she pulled the overlarge book into her lap, Lily traced the pentagram around the cover, her green eyes wide with anticipation. Climbing onto the bed, she started flipping through the ancient pages. _This is the right Book, isn't it? _she asked her brother. When there was no answer from the eldest Scott, she asked, _Luke? _

Her brother didn't answer and as she pressed further into his mind, she could sense the state of consciousness that he was in. Lily smiled in amusement; he'd fallen asleep. Allowing him to continue with his resting state, she withdrew her attention from her brother's mind and focused on the Book, turning the pages.

Inside the Book was thousands upon thousands of information about things that she had once thought only existed in her dreams and imagination. Demons, warlocks, spells . . . all of it was in there. Even information about fairies and trolls had been put into the Book.

As she came across an old entry on the Book that was dated _9__th__ March 1623_, she stopped, looking at the entry in fascination. It had been written by one of the ancestors, an Anna Cromwell, who had lived in England during the times of witch-hunts. Lily turned the flashlight onto the page, reading what the woman had written.

_This will be my final day on this earth. Unfortunately, I have been discovered, but I will not let them have the rest of my sisters of the craft. My coven members have been lying low since I was discovered, as I have instructed. When things have settled down, perhaps they will select a new high priestess of our coven and continue on with what my mother and grandmother have done before me._

_My fifteen-year-old son Thomas knows the truth, has powers himself, but he knows the danger of becoming a witch. Nevertheless, he possesses the strength and power of the Cromwells—and twice the bravery, I might add. He has begged me to let us leave this place behind, but what place is safe anymore? _

_When my sister was discovered, she fled to America and it was not six months before she was burnt at the stake, as I shall be walking tomorrow. I shall follow my sister to the stake and I pray that my son will not be following me. Tom is aware of the risks and has promised me that he will be careful. The Book of Shadows that I began when I formed the coven shall be passed down to my son. He shall keep it safe until his son or daughter will be born and they learn the craft as well. If luck is on our side, the Cromwell line shall continue on. _

_But I fear for the fates of my descendants, my son's heirs. I have the ability to see things before they happen, just as my mother could. Some call it premonitions. Others call it the Sight. And unfortunately, none of these visions have ever proved false. _

_In my vision, I saw two of my sons. They were enemies to the core, one aligned with good, the other with evil. And the one who is aligned with good shall die at the hands of his brother, for my evil son will have no prospect of integrity, no sense of right or wrong. _

_Is this what the Cromwell line is to become? If my good son is killed, will the line continue to be sprung through shadows of darkness? Will it become nothing more than a family of evil witches who have failed in everything that I taught Thomas? It shall be stripped of its purpose to protect the world from destruction, despite that the world fears my kind? I wish that it weren't so, but how can I believe otherwise? _

_But I must somehow believe that good will prevail over evil. A Cromwell's strength lies in his and her own courage and valour. If my son could withstand his beliefs, in this dark and desolate time, with everyone turning against his mother, then I must believe that a Cromwell will rise from the ashes and it shall become untainted once more._

Lily paused as she reached the bottom of the page. Her mind whirled at the words, mulling this over. Anna had said that a Cromwell witch, one of her descendants, would kill his brother. He had turned his back on everything that the family believed in and allied himself with evil.

Was it possible? she wondered, remembering what her mother had told her about Dan and what Lucas had said about Keith. He had _wanted_ to believe that his friend hadn't killed his uncle and that was fair enough. But what if Lucas had been right? What if it wasn't Jimmy Edwards, after all? What if . . . what if . . .?

What if it was Dan? Would he sink so low that he would do the unthinkable and kill his own brother?

In one instant, she knew the answer to that question, thought it brought shock and a fresh wave of anger through her.

Because the answer was, undoubtedly, yes.

--

Lucas glanced up as his brother came into the room the next day. While he and Lily had been . . . mind talking, he had fallen asleep halfway through and didn't know if she had gotten the Book or not. But considering that she hadn't called him and told him it wasn't there, he was pretty sure that she _had_ found it.

"Hey, little brother," he said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"I kind of wanted to know what you were going to tell Lily and me when your mom came in," Nathan explained. "But I guess that it would make more sense if we waited for our sister."

Lucas grinned slightly at the use of the word, but shook his head. "No, don't worry about it," he said. "Anyway, I, uh, I told Lily last night. But you might want to sit down for this. Because I don't think that you're going to believe it."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, Luke, at the moment, I'd probably believe just about anything. Even if you said that we were some . . . freaks with paranormal abilities."

Wincing slightly at his words, Lucas gave his brother a sideways look, wondering how he was going to take this. "Actually, Nate . . . without the freaks part, uh . . . we kind of are."

His dark blue eyes flickering towards his brother, Nathan shook his head, letting out a sharp laugh. "What?" he asked, laughing. "Come on, Luke, I know you just had a heart attack, but this is a little over the top."

"I'm serious," Lucas insisted. "When I saw Keith, he told me that we're witches destined to protect the world from evil. I think that's how I heard Lily's thoughts when you guys were in the waiting room. Somehow we have . . . a telepathic connection, I guess, is the best way to explain. We can read each other's thoughts when we put our minds to it." He paused, realising what he had just said. "Well, you know what I meant by that, right?" he asked, seeing Nathan's chuckling.

"Luke, have you lost your mind?" Nathan demanded. "This is insane! There's no such thing as witches? And what kind of evil are you talking about? What, demons?"

"And warlocks," Lucas added dryly, but he could see that there was no way that Nathan was accepting this.

His brother scoffed. "Luke, you really need to have the psychologists check you out while you're here, because you have obviously lost it. Seriously, you need to have them check on your medication or something."

"Nathan—"

But before he could get a word in, Nathan headed out of the room, shaking his head. "You might want to prepare yourself while you're in there," he heard Nathan say, "I think he's really losing it, Lils."

Lucas shook his head as Lily appeared in the doorway, frowning as she looked at something in the hallway. Turning towards him, she asked, "I take it that he's not as accepting about this witch stuff as we are?"

"No," Lucas sighed. "Come on, sit down. Did you find it?" he asked, noticing that her bag seemed extra-large.

"Yep," Lily answered with a grin, taking a seat beside him and opening it up, revealing the same Book that he had seen with Keith in the dream. She pulled it out. "And there's something in here that I think that you should read, Luke."

"What's that?" Lucas asked as she handed him the Book, laying it in his lap, because that Book was really heavy and he was still a little weak. Lily didn't answer, just flipped through a couple pages, trying to find the one that she wanted.

"There," she said, tapping a page. "Read."

Lucas raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply, glancing down at the page and reading the entry line by line. When he reached the part about one of her descendants dying at the hands of his brother, his mouth dropped open. "What?" he whispered, hardly believing it.

"Do you think that it's possible?" she asked as he looked up at her, disbelief in his eyes. Her green ones were worried and fearful.

"Well, considering it's Dan, I wouldn't exactly put anything past him," Lucas said slowly. But killing his brother? Would Dan do that? he wondered, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"We both know that he would," Lily said quietly.

Making a face at his sister, Lucas shook his head, slightly irritated. "Okay, how about we have an agreement to stay out of each other's mind unless we have permission to?"

"Don't need telepathy to know what you were thinking, Luke." Lily smiled dryly at him. "It was the same question I was asking myself when I first read the entry. And we both know that Dan _would_ do something like that. After everything that Mom said about him, it's remarkable that he hasn't done anything illegal before this."

Lucas snorted, smiling despite himself. "He has," he answered softly, thinking of the dealership scandal.

Lily nodded, but didn't ask about that. Instead, she turned the conversation back towards the entry. "So . . . what are we going to do?"

AN: Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciated them. As thanks, I'm presenting you with this new chapter. So, please, _please, _reviews this one so I can have some motivation to write more on this story. Thank you, guys!

The Lady of the Mists


	7. Jailhouse and Cemeteries

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Seven: Jailhouse and Cemeteries

Nathan sat down at the county jail as he waited for his father to be brought to the booth, wondering what he was going to say or do.

Should he tell him about Lily? he wondered as he tapped the table obliviously. It probably wouldn't matter if he did; Dan would find out about it eventually. News of the long-lost Scott sister was bound to leak into the jailhouse eventually.

Looking up as his father sat down in the booth, Nathan picked up the phone, waiting for his father to retrieve the other end. When Dan spoke into the phone, his voice was full of concern. "What are you doing here, son? You should be down at the hospital with your wife."

"I know," Nathan admitted. "But Haley's a lot better; both she and the baby are fine."

Dan let out a deep sigh. "I'm glad. And what about your brother? Is he all right?" The question brought Nathan back down to reality of why he had really come down here.

"Physically, I think he's doing okay. He's still a little weak from the heart attack, but that's expected," Nathan answered. Dan nodded. "But mentally, I don't think he's doing all that great."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Lucas is acting crazy," Nathan told him. He couldn't understand why Lucas was saying these things; magic didn't exist and neither did witches and demons. "He's saying all this stuff that can't possibly be true. Apparently, he had this dream about Keith while he was unconscious and Keith told him these things."

If he didn't know any better, he could've _sworn_ that he saw his father flinch at the mention of his uncle. "What kind of things?"

"That Lucas, Lily, and I are witches," Nathan answered, unknowingly mentioning his sister. "That we have these powers that we're meant to fight evil with. That there's some kind of demons and warlocks that we're supposed to fight against, to protect innocent people with."

His father didn't even blink at the mention of this. "Nathan, your brother is recovering from a heart attack. He's not thinking too clearly right now. The best thing that you can do for him right now is be there for him and support him. He's going to need you right now."

Nathan sighed. Deep down, he knew his father was right. "Yeah, I kind of freaked out on him when he told me that. I guess I should go back and tell him that I'm sorry."

Dan nodded. "Now, who exactly is this Lily person? What does she have to do with these delusions of Lucas's?"

"No, Dad, Lily's no delusion. Trust me, she's flesh and blood. That's something I needed to ask you about. Do you remember anything about a woman named Alyssa Bryant?"

The question sent Dan into a wave of shock from the look on his face. "Yes, I knew her, a long time ago. And that's not exactly one of my finer moments, Nathan. What does this Lily girl have to do with her?"

Nathan sighed as he leaned into the phone. "Because Lily is her daughter. Her mom just died recently and she came to Tree Hill, looking for the rest of her family." Dan didn't say anything, only looked at Nathan. "According to Lily, Dad, she's your daughter, too."

If Nathan was expecting a reaction, he certainly got one. "What?!" he shouted. "That woman gave birth to my daughter and didn't even have the decency to tell me?" He was bordering on fury and hate. "As soon as I get out of here, I am going to hunt down that woman and kill her with my own two hands. How dare she?!"

"Dad, stop!" Nathan yelled, but his father wasn't even listening.

"Who does she think that she is, that she can cross me and get away with it? She knows perfectly well what I am capable of, what I can do. She knows the powers that I wield! She knows what I am capable of doing! And I promise you, Alyssa Bryant will pay for deceiving me!"

He slammed his hand onto the glass, shattering it. Nathan dived out of the way to avoid getting hit by the glass and looked up as the guards hauled Dan away.

Slowly, he got to his feet, an uneasy feeling surging through him. He was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, his brother had been right about them being witches.

--

With a small sigh, Lily wandered into the cemetery that was on the other side of the Tree Hill, miles away from the hospital. She had left Lucas in the safe custody of his mother, promising to be back soon. They both knew that Nathan had to come to the truth in his own time in his own way, but that didn't mean that they couldn't try and discover the truth themselves. If the Book of Shadows was right, then they had to find out the truth about what had really happened that night. Lily didn't know where to start, but this seemed like a good a place as any. Besides, she really wanted to visit her uncle for the first time. And Lucas had asked her to take some flowers to his grave for him.

Following Lucas's directions, Lily finally managed to find Keith's gravesite as she stopped for a minute, staring at it. This was the first time since her mother had died that she'd been to a cemetery.

Taking a deep breath, Lily walked towards the grave, squatting down beside it. "Hey, Keith," she said slowly, wondering what to say. "I know that you don't know me, but you probably knew my mom, Alyssa Bryant. You and Dan went to school with her. But there is something that you don't know and that's that Dan was cheating on Karen with her." She sighed, running her hand through her dark hair. "I guess there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. My name is Lily Bryant. I'm your niece, Dan's daughter.

"Lucas asked me to come by here for him; he's gonna come himself as soon as he's feeling better. We found that Book, by the way, that you told him about. And I think we're right about Dan. He's the one in the entry, isn't he? The evil Cromwell witch who was to kill his brother that was aligned with good?" Lily wasn't really expecting an answer, but she received one. And from the last person she expected to hear it from.

"Yes, Dan is the one that the entry was talking about."

Lily jumped a mile, whirling around to face the source of the voice. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw a man in his late thirties to early forties standing behind her. He had brown hair and eyes that were focused on her warmly. His smile was gentle and friendly and she knew him immediately, thought she couldn't really say how. All that she knew was that this man was the same one whose grave she was standing at.

"Uncle Keith?" she asked wonderingly and he nodded, taking a step towards her.

"Hi there, Lily," he said softly. He continued to walk towards her, wrapping his arms around his dumbfounded niece and embracing her tightly. Lily didn't know how to react, but she returned the gesture, feeling an unfamiliar sensation going through her, one that felt uncannily like a daughter's love for her father. "Welcome home."


	8. Family Talks

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Eight: Family Talks

Holding his niece gently in his arms, Keith smiled as she finally pulled away, tears glistening in her green eyes. She must've realised this, because she pushed them impatiently away.

"Well, well, Alyssa's daughter," he said at long last, shaking his head. "Never thought that I'd see you around here. Your mom was determined to keep you away from here."

"Yeah," Lily sighed. "She was, up until the end of her life. When she died, she made me promise to come here, to find Lucas and Nathan." She paused. "Uncle Keith, Nathan . . ."

"He'll come around," Keith assured her. "Lily, your brother just found out that he is a witch who is supposed to vanquish demons. You can't tell me that this doesn't freak you out a little bit."

Lily's mouth twitched into a wry smile. "Okay, maybe a little bit," she admitted. "But he completely went ballistic on Luke. How are we supposed to help him deal with this if we don't all deal with it together? Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"

"I hope so," Keith answered. "It's got to be better than my relationship with _my_ brother."

"You mean considering the fact that Dan's the reason that you're six feet under to begin with?"

Keith couldn't help chuckling at her wry humour. She had the uncanny ability to speak the truth the way that she saw it. And the girl was absolutely right; his brother was the reason why he was underneath the ground that they were standing above in the first place. "Good point."

With a small sigh, Lily ran a hand through her dark hair, perturbed about something. "Can I ask you something?" she asked. Keith nodded. "Did you know about me? I mean, did Mom . . . tell you that she was pregnant with Dan's child when she left?"

Keith studied her and decided to tell her the truth. "No, I didn't know that you were my niece, but I did know that Alyssa was pregnant. She told me that right before she left town, after Dan left for college." He sighed. "I never understood why she told me that, but she told me that I would one day. I'll never forget the look on her face when she told me that."

Lily nodded mutely. "So, when did you find out about me? Did—did Mom tell you after you died?" she asked, glancing at his death date on the headstone. It was a month after her mother had passed away.

"No," Keith said with a small laugh. "It wasn't. No, last year when I left Tree Hill to go after my fiancée that Dan hired to break my heart, I went to the town you were living in. Alyssa invited me over while you were at school and we talked things over. Still, she didn't tell me that you were my niece. I didn't know until you came home and I saw you for the first time."

Staring at him, Lily remembered vaguely the man who had come over late in the afternoon one day. After he'd left, she asked her mother who he'd been, but she only replied with, "Nobody." Despite her badgering, Alyssa had never confided in her daughter about the identity of the mysterious man who had come over that day. Even at her death, that mystery had remained unsolved, but Lily had forgotten about it. With her mother dying, everything else seemed irrelevant. Now, as she studied Keith, she finally recognised him as the man who had been there that day.

"That was you," she whispered. "I thought you seemed familiar. It was you who was in our house that day."

Keith nodded. "When I saw you, I realised for the first time what must have occurred between Dan and Alyssa. You have to look closely, but you can see the bare features of your brothers in your own. You and Lucas both have the same smile."

"We do?" Lily asked, smiling despite herself. She bit her lip slightly. "What about Nathan?"

"Well, you've got the same chin," Keith answered with a laugh. "And if I may say so, the same stubbornness as your brother." Lily shook her head, unable to stop the disbelieving chuckle that escaped from her. "Don't worry, it's a Scott family trait. One of the better ones," he added dryly.

Lily nodded, her thoughts drifting to her brother. "So, what are we supposed to do about Nathan?" she asked. "And how are we supposed to prove that Dan's the one who killed you? Justice has to be brought to Jimmy Edwards. He doesn't deserve to be labelled a murderer for the rest of time. And what about his mother? Doesn't she deserve to know that her son isn't a killer?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, kiddo," Keith ordered, holding up his hands to stop the girl's rant. "One problem at a time. You're right about all of that stuff, but really, let's deal with one problem at a time. Dan's not going to be in jail long, but you'll have enough time to deal with that when the time comes."

Lily blew out a breath, making her bangs blow off her forehead before settling themselves down again. "Okay," she grumbled. "But how are we supposed to do all of this? Nathan's determined to believe that Dan is becoming this nice, civilised guy. I'm afraid he's going to be following to wrong path if he continues to be under Dan's influence."

Keith chuckled. "Well, if Nathan hasn't succumbed to Dan's influence before now, he's probably pretty safe. Still, you should try and get him away as soon as you can, lest his background wins out."

"What do you mean?"

There was a short pause before Keith answered, "Did you know that Deb, Nathan's mother, is also a member of the magical world?" Lily shook her head. "But she's not exactly aligned with good, which is why Dan married her, I think. You see, Deb . . . is a demon."

Lily stood perfectly still as she stared at her uncle, a mixture of horror, astonishment, and disbelief written in her face. "What?" she whispered after a long moment.

Keith nodded. "Yeah, she was working undercover at college when she met Dan. Originally, she was assigned with trying to take him out, but when he turned evil, it was a better plan in her boss's eyes. Now, they had a witch from a very powerful line with them."

"What—wait a minute," Lily interrupted. "Does that mean that . . . wouldn't that make _Nathan_—"

"Part witch and part demon, yes," Keith admitted. "Now you know why you should be worried about Dan corrupting him. But I think as long as he has Haley, Nathan's going to stay on the side of good."

Lily closed her eyes, sinking down onto the ground and leaning against the tree that hovered over Keith's grave, placing her chin into her hands. Her uncle joined her, watching his niece. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to end terribly?" she asked.

"Because you're psychic?" Keith suggested with a smile. Lily glanced towards her uncle, giving him an exasperated look, but he only chuckled. "Or because you're probably right. Dan would love nothing more than to end the Cromwell line with whatever good witches are left in it. And if that means offing you, Lucas, and Haley in order to get Nathan on his side, then he will."

Lily nodded, leaning her head back against the giant oak. "I know," she answered softly. "I know."

Keith sighed, glancing upwards. "Well, looks like my time's up," he said suddenly, getting to his feet. Lily looked at him quickly. "It's time for me to go."

"No," Lily protested, scrambling to her feet. "No, Uncle Keith, I don't want you to go." Suddenly, she felt very much like a child. "What are we supposed to do about Dan and Nathan?"

"Follow your heart, Lily," Keith answered gently. "Trust it. You will know what to do when the time comes. Believe in yourself." He hugged his niece quickly. "And don't worry; everything will turn out the way that it is supposed to in the end." With a small smile, he disappeared in a shimmer of white lights.

Lily stared at the spot where her uncle had stood and glanced upwards. She had the sinking feeling that they were heading into a battle that would determine their fates.

And she had no idea what they were supposed to do.

--

Lucas was released from the hospital a couple of days later, along with Haley. Although his mom was very reluctant to let him out of her sight, he finally managed to escape her overprotective nagging and get over to Lily's apartment. He could hear Celtic music playing as he knocked on the door, so he doubted that she could hear his knocking.

"Lily!" he called, pounding on the door harder. When she still didn't answer, he opened the door and went inside. Looking around the apartment, he wasn't too surprised when he saw the piles of boxes that were scattered around the room. After all, she _had_ just gotten into town. "Hey, Lily, you home?"

"Luke?" Lily appeared in the doorway to a room, looking startled at seeing him there. She immediately went over to the stereo and turned in down. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Uh . . . I thought that I should visit my sister," Lucas said with a grin, hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, and as much as I enjoy your company, you should be at home, resting," Lily said, rolling her eyes as she walked back to her bedroom. Lucas shook his head as he followed her.

"I'll be fine. The doctor said that I could do some light activity. I'm not going to be doing any marathons anytime soon, but I can still get out of the house and talk to my sister."

"Uh-huh. Well, if you do, you're going to have to put up with my consistent worrying," Lily replied, pointing towards a chair that she had just finished cleaning off. "Sit down or go home and have your mom worrying over you. Take your pick."

Lucas chuckled, but obeyed, taking the seat that she had indicated. "So what are you doing?" he asked, noticing for the first time that she had a paint-splattered apron on and there was an easel in front of her, holding a canvas in place, and there was open paints sitting on the table beside her. Lily shrugged as she positioned her brush in place, selecting a colour and sliding it across the canvas.

"I needed to think about stuff," she answered without looking up. "This is the only way that I'm able to do that. Painting takes my mind off things and I can relax."

"You're an artist," Lucas said admiringly. "That's amazing. I can't even draw stick figures that well."

Lily chuckled. "Well, I guess every one of us has our talents. You and Nate have a talent for basketball. I can't even dribble without screwing something up. Gym has never been my best subject." She pointed towards a box. "There's some paintings in there if you want to take a look."

Getting to his feet, Lucas walked over to the box that she indicated and looked through the canvases that were in there, being gentle with the works of art that his sister had created. "Lily, this is fantastic work," he complimented as he found various paintings. Mostly, they were landscapes, but he found quite a few that were of dream-like worlds.

"Where did you come up with these kind of stuff?" he asked, looking around at his sister.

She shrugged. "Mostly they come to me in my dreams," she answered. "Sometimes I wake up from a dream that is so beautiful, so wonderful that I can't get the image out of my head. So I paint it so that I'll never be able to forget it."

"You haven't shown these to anyone?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow. His sister shook her head. "Lils, this is really great stuff, you should really show them to an art gallery or something. This work is too wonderful for you not to show the world."

"Luke," Lily said, turning towards him in the chair, "this stuff is just . . . a hobby, okay? I don't plan on turning it into a profession, all right? Besides, what if I took it in there and they told me that it was no good. Then the one place that I could find sanctuary would be the one place I'd come to fear. I don't think that I could do that."

Letting out a sigh, Lucas shook his head. "You know, I felt the same way about basketball," he admitted. Lily looked at her. "I just wanted to stay out on the river court. But Keith finally managed to convince me that when you have a talent that is so wonderful that . . . it's like poetry, then it's a shame not to let the world see it."

Lily bit her lip, looking at her brother. "I don't know, Luke," she finally said. "Maybe."

"Well, at least think about it," Lucas told her. "But what did you need to think about, anyway?"

His sister looked relieved at the change of topic. "Keith," she answered. "I saw him at the cemetery. I talked to him. And if we're going to talk about this, then you need to get back to your seat."

"Why?"

"Worried about a relapse," Lily replied, pushing some stray hair out of her face. "Sit down."

Once Lucas had taken his seat, his sister turned towards her, placing the brush down and looking at him square in the eye, and told him everything.


	9. Revelations

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Nine: Revelations

Nathan pulled a blanket over the sleeping form of his wife and unborn child as he took a seat beside her, rubbing his hands over his face tiredly. It had been over a week since she had been released, but that hadn't stopped him from worrying ever second about her.

It had also been over a week since he had last seen his father. After his father's outburst at his last visit, the jailers were refusing the let anybody see him. Considering that Dan had actually destroyed the visitors' booths the last time that he was there, Nathan didn't blame them. But he really wished he could understand what was happening.

Just as this thought was projected into his mind, someone knocked on the front door and Nathan could've _sworn_ that he heard his sister's voice in his head whisper, _Open the door, Nathan._

Glancing once at his wife, Nathan got to his feet and headed towards the door, opening it up to reveal his sister. "Hey, Lily," he said, greeting her with a hug. "How's everything?"

"Well, that depends, are you in the mood to talk about what happened between you and Luke?" Lily questioned, her green eyes serious as she surveyed him.

Letting out a deep sigh, Nathan nodded, opening the door wider and allowing her to come in.

She nodded as she entered the main room, turning towards him and placing her hands on her hips, giving him a reprimanding look. "All right, now first of all, what the _heck_ were you thinking, going off on our brother like that right after he just had a heart attack?"

Nathan winced; he knew that he had it coming. "Okay, so maybe I overreacted a little bit?"

"Gee, you think?"

Glaring at her slightly, Nathan retorted, "Well, you can't really blame me. Lucas was on the one who was going on about witches and demons and stuff. Lily, stuff like that _doesn't_ happen."

"Maybe it does," Lily replied, not backing down. "And maybe it doesn't, Nathan, but the point is that Lucas believes it. Not to mention, I do, too. There are some things that have happened around me that . . . I can't come up with another explanation."

"Like what?"

Lily sighed. "Like seeing our uncle at the cemetery when I went down there a few days ago," she answered. Nathan's eyes flickered upwards and he stared at his sister. "I'm telling you the truth, Nathan, because I believe it. And I think _you_ believe it, too."

"Give me a break!" Nathan's voice rose as he turned away from her, heading towards the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "Lily, we are not witches, okay? There is no such thing! You and Lucas really need to get over these ridiculous delusions of yours and focus on reality."

His sister shook her head, dark hair flying into her face. "Nathan Scott, turn around." He complied, but refused to look at his sister completely in the eyes so she couldn't see the fear and panic that was in them. She was good at reading people; she would see it in them as clearly as people could read a book. "Look at me, Nathan. Look at me," she repeated in a tone that was not to be argued with.

Slowly, he raised his head to look completely at his sister, his dark blue gaze meeting her green one. She was studying him curiously, frowning slightly as she read him.

"All right," she said with a sigh, her arms dropping down from her side. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"I can't."

"Nathan."

He turned away from her again, walking over to the couch and dropping down onto it, placing his head into his cupped hands. Although he didn't dare look at her, he felt Lily join him on the couch, could feel her gaze onto him.

"If you don't tell me what's wrong," she said softly, "how can anybody possibly help you?" He didn't answer. "Nathan, please. I'm trying to help you, but I can't do that if you shut me out."

"Why do you want to help me? You haven't done anything to convince me that you even care. Lily, you don't even know me."

"But I came here," she pointed out. "Nathan, I came to Tree Hill looking for you and Lucas, didn't I? And the fact that I found you proves that fate decreed that we were meant to meet, to be a part of each other's lives."

"You really believe that? That there are things that are destined to be? That there are things that we're meant to do?"

"Don't you?"

Nathan shrugged. "I'm not sure of anything anymore. Lily . . . how can you believe this stuff without any proof, to just accept it without explanation? Don't you think that this is a little over the top?" Still, he couldn't force himself to meet her eyes.

"No, I don't," she replied in a quiet voice. "Nathan, I talked with Keith, all right? You can believe me or not, that's your prerogative, but the fact is that I did speak with him. Just like Lucas saw him while he was unconscious. Those weren't delusions, Nate, they were real. And I think that you know that." Her voice was gentle, as was her embrace as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Lily . . ." Nathan's voice was shaking. "I can't do this. Dad's in jail because of me and even if he really is a bad guy, he doesn't deserve to spend his life in jail because of me."

"Nathan, you are not turning yourself in. Dan belongs there, all right? He has his own crimes to pay for. You didn't do anything wrong."

"How can you be so sure?" Nathan looked at her, pain in his dark blue eyes. "I'm his son, I grew up with him, how do you know that I'm not going to turn out just as bad as he is?"

"Because you're not Dan. You have friends and family who love you, you have a wife who loves you and a child who will love you. And you have a brother and a sister who love you," she added fiercely. Nathan looked down. "Listen to me, little brother," she said softly, "even if you don't want to believe me about the witchcraft and the demon stuff, you can at least believe me when I say that Dan belongs there. You don't. As a matter of fact," she added, "you should probably take a look at the news."

"Why is that?"

Lily shrugged. "Oh, maybe because you didn't kill that guy. What was his name, Daunte? He died on impact from the injuries in the car accident. They found that out when the corner's report was released. The charges were dropped against Dan."

"What?" Nathan jumped to his feet, relief surging through him. "So you mean, Dad's out of jail?"

"Not exactly. The jailers were worried about some little reaction he had while he was down there. From what I heard, he destroyed half of the visitation area while you were down there."

"Pretty much."

"Well, they're keeping him down there for a little while to see if he's not a danger to society. If he proves that he's not going to be assaulting anyone else or destroying anything, then they'll let him go. But if he doesn't, he's going to get carted off to the insane asylum." She smiled dryly. "Our family is sure messed up, isn't it?"

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that Dad could possibly be put in a mental institution?" Nathan stared at his sister. She nodded. "How is this possibly a good thing?"

"Because there's some things that you don't know about our father, Nathan. Some things that you need to know."

Nathan swallowed. "What kinds of things?"

Lily raised her head towards him, her green eyes sombre and grave as she surveyed him, trying to decide whether or not to tell him. "It's about our Uncle Keith," she said at long last, her voice soft.

--

Lucas glanced up as the side door opened and his sister peered in, checking to see if he was awake. "Hey, Lils," he said, waving her in. She grinned and pulled herself into full view, closing the door behind her. "So, what's going on?" he asked, setting the computer that he'd been working on aside. She sat down on the bed next to him, letting out a sigh.

"Well, I talked to Nathan." _That_ got his full attention and he looked quickly at his sister. "And he didn't take the news very well. I guess I didn't pick the best time to spring the fact that our father is a murderer on him, with Haley being hurt and everything."

"Yeah," Lucas sighed, running a hand through his blond hair. "So, what exactly did he say?"

"That's kind of the problem, he didn't say _anything_. All he did was tear out of the house and take off in his car. At that point Haley woke up and wanted to know what was going on."

"What'd you tell her?"

"The truth. That I told Nathan some things that he didn't necessarily like and he probably went down to the police department to confront Dan about it. I was gonna stay with her until he got back, but she didn't think that was such a good idea."

Lucas shook his head, standing up. "Okay, so we have a bunch of problems on our hands and no way to deal with them. We've got to stop Dan from corrupting our half-demon brother and somehow find a way to clear Jimmy's name and put Keith's _real_ murderer in jail." Lily sighed, her brown bangs falling unceremoniously into her eyes. "Did the Book say anything about how to handle something like this?"

His sister gave him a look. "Lucas, this isn't witchcraft problems that we're dealing with here. This is family problems. Magic doesn't have anything to do with it right now. Dan's not going to be in jail very long, but when he gets out, he's probably going to come after us."

"You think?"

"Yeah. Which means that we're going to have to figure out how to use these powers of ours when he does."

Lucas nodded mutely. "Well, unless you've got some idea of how to unbind our powers so we can actually use them, then . . ."

"Actually, I do." Lily pulled open her bag and tugged the Book of Shadows from its contents. "I've been doing some reading in here and I think that I might have found a spell that will unbind our powers. The only problem is that it's going to release all _three_ of ours powers and I don't think Nathan's going to be too receptive to the idea."

"Well, maybe we could rewrite it or something," Lucas suggested as she turned to the page and showed him. "But Nathan has to acknowledge these powers eventually. 'Cause one way or another, demons are going to come after him."

"You think they might try and turn him?" Lily asked him, looking worriedly at him.

"They might. Or they might try and do the same to us and try and kill him, but Dan's going to want Nathan on his side again. Which means that he'll probably threaten Nathan with our lives if he comes willingly to his side."

"Well, as long as Dan doesn't get released within forty-eight hours of saying the spell, I think it should be fine," Lily said brightly. At Lucas's confused look, she explained, "Apparently, there's a window of opportunity. When a new witch—or witches—first receives their powers, they can be swayed either way, good or evil. If they choose evil, then they will be forever bound by their choice."

"So Dan could cast a spell and turn our brother evil and he will have no choice in the matter?"

"Uh-uh, doesn't work like that," Lily explained. "He has free will in this instance. But he can still tempt Nathan, persuade him into using his powers for evil instead of good. If he harms one single innocent, then he will be turned for the rest of time."

Lucas shook his head. "Who came up with that idiot rule?"

Lily winced, looking both up and down. "Apparently both sides agreed to it," she said weakly. "So we can cast the spell later and hope Dan doesn't get out of jail by then. Or we can cast it later and hope Nathan will be more receptive to the idea by then."

Taking a deep breath, Lucas glanced down at the spell. "All right," he said quietly. "Let's cast it."

His sister nodded and they held the Book in their hands, chanting as one, saying the spell together.

_Hear now the words of the witches,_

_the secrets we hid in the night._

_The oldest of gods are invoked here._

_The great work of magic is sought._

_In this night and in this hour,_

_we call upon the ancient power. _

_Bring your powers to we siblings three._

_We want the power._

_Give us the power."_

As the two siblings spoke the words, a shimmering light surrounded them, encircling them in its light. Lucas felt a strange warmth surround him, stretching from his fingertips to his very core. It felt strange, but not unpleasant, as though it were welcoming him into a new world.

Lily felt for the first time in her life like she belonged to the world, but not the one she had been born into. No, the world that she was being brought into was one so far away from the one that she knew, so far away from her tight, pruned world where nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Unknown to both siblings, in another part of Tree Hill, just as he had entered the Tree Hill Police Department to confront his father, Nathan Scott had the particular sensation of being brought into a world that he was trying to deny. Two sides were struggling to control him and he refused to be owned by either one. He would decide his own destiny, not anybody else.

But in order to do that, he would have to learn the truth about his father and the truth about his uncle's death.

AN: Okay, people, I am going to say this only once more. I NEED MORE REVIEWS!

Okay, I feel better. Now, please, please, _please,_ review before I go completely mental. Thank you.

The Lady of the Mists


	10. Demonic Allegiance

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Ten: Demonic Allegiance

Lily suppressed a sigh as she and Lucas headed into the school together, ignoring the whisperings of the fellow students. It had been a day since they had read the spell together, but so far no powers had shown up. Lucas had expressed concerns that they hadn't inherited any of these powers that they were supposed to have received, after all, but Lily reasoned that they would probably show up right when they needed them the most.

"Think Nathan's going to come today?" Lily questioned as she glanced around the courtyard, looking for their younger brother.

"I dunno. He's probably still dealing with everything, though. It might take him a few days to get it all settled in his mind. I know that I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it all." Lucas sighed. "You know, I still think that there might be something that we're missing."

"Like what?" Lily questioned as they took a seat outside. "You mean with Dan and Keith?"

"Yeah. The way that Keith was talking to me when I was unconscious, when he took me back to the school that day, it was like I was missing something, like I had forgotten something at the school that day." Lucas sighed. "I don't know, Lily, maybe there's something that day that I've pushed out of my mind. Something that I thought was too insignificant to be important. I can't think of anything that Keith would be trying to tell me."

His sister frowned slightly at him before glancing down at her watch. "Well, we've still got about an hour before our first class, so why don't you take me through that day and see if we can't jog your memory." Lily shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

Lucas nodded. "Okay." He stood up and Lily followed her brother through the school, to the library. "This is where I found Peyton, bleeding to death. She'd been shot by the gun Jimmy fired." He paused. "I don't think that he meant it, though. Jimmy Edwards couldn't hurt anybody, let alone . . ." But he didn't need to finish that thought.

"But he didn't," Lily told him reassuringly. "We both know that, Luke." She rubbed her brother's arm and he shook his head, trying to clear it, before heading out of the library. "Luke?"

Her brother didn't answer and she hurried after him, trying to keep up with his long strides. "Lucas!" she called. "Luke, will you please slow down?" Suddenly, he came to an abrupt stop and she almost slammed into him.

Once she had regained her composure, she looked at their surroundings and saw that they were in the hallway. A few of the students who passed the two siblings gave them strange looks, but otherwise ignored them.

"When I was carrying Peyton out," Lucas said in a quiet voice, "Jimmy found us here in the hallway. Keith came to try and help him, convinced him to let us go. That was the last time that I ever saw him alive." His voice was constricted.

Lily's heart pained for her brother and for a moment that contained an eternity, she felt her vision flicker and a hazy picture formed in front of her eyes. In that moment, she didn't see the students gathering their books and bags, heading for class. She saw an empty hallway, save for her brother, Peyton Sawyer, their Uncle Keith, and a boy she guessed was Jimmy Edwards. And as Keith shielded Lucas from Jimmy holding the gun on them, she saw Lucas's eyes flicker towards Jimmy. And over the gun, in the hallway, someone was peering out from the blinds, staring at everything.

Almost as quickly as it had come, Lily's vision was corrected and her vision returned to normal. Blinking a few times, she looked around them and towards her brother, who was looking at her worriedly.

"Lily? What's the matter?"

"Not here," she said in an undertone. She didn't know what had just happened, but she knew one thing; that wasn't just some daydream. There was no doubt in her mind that the vision she'd just had was a true predicament.

Of the past.

On the day of their uncle's death.

Which meant that if the vision had indeed been true, there was someone who could have possibly seen what had really happened on the day of their uncle's death. And could help them to clear Jimmy Edwards's name.

She just had to figure out who it had been.

--

Nathan stepped into the beach house, closing the door silently behind him. He knew that his father had to be here. There was nowhere else that he could go. Dozens of police officers were looking for him and were going to arrest him on sight. This was the one place that they hadn't looked.

After he had gone to confront his father, he had found the police station in chaos and had managed to piece together what had happened from the scraps of conversation from the police. Apparently, Dan had attacked two of the guards on duty and killed one of them. The other one had sustained a major head injury and was still lying unconscious in the hospital at Tree Hill. If his father hadn't been a murderer before, he most certainly was now.

And Nathan would've sworn that he wasn't capable of such an act two days ago.

Closing the door behind him, Nathan looked around the empty room, taking a deep breath. "Dad?" he called. "Dad, I know that you're here. Come on, we need to talk."

Hearing a noise in the back of the house, Nathan immediately went to go investigate, listening carefully to the voices that he heard as he pressed his ear against the door to the two people that were talking. One was his father. The other was a silky and slithery voice, one that made the hairs on Nathan's neck stand up.

"I do not care what you think, Scott, you have dishonoured the name that I have given you. After years of loyal service, you brought shame to the name of warlocks everywhere. We needed someone in a position of power for our plan to succeed. With you as mayor, we gained the upper hand and no witch would be able to stop us. But you had to act recklessly, didn't you? First to take the blame for that half-witted son of yours and then completely lose it when you learned of your daughter."

"That was a mistake, but I have more than made up for that." Dan was speaking now. "I have ways of getting what we want without my being mayor, my lord."

"You are lucky that I do not kill you here and now, Scott," the slithery voice was speaking again. "So I would advise you to keep your mouth shut for the time being. Your son may be half-demon, but his allegiance lies with good, not evil. Until that changes, he will never consider joining us. As long as that wife of his continues to corrupt him, he will never join his true calling. He belongs with us and Haley James stands in the way."

There was a short pause. "You want me to eliminate her, then, my lord?" Dan asked quietly.

"I want you to do as you are told and not screw everything up this time!" the slithery voice roared. "Someone else will take care of that wretched girl. All I want for you to do is turn your son to our side. Nothing more and nothing less. If I find that you have, even if it works in our favour, I will have your head on a plate. Am I understood?"

Dan took a deep breath. "Completely, my lord," he said quietly. Nathan sensed something that felt almost like fire and then the door opened, revealing Dan Scott.

His father had something of shock on his face when he saw his son standing there. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Nathan?" he snapped, glaring at the boy. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it," Nathan said, glaring at his father. "Are you telling me that everything that Lucas and Lily said was true and you didn't say one word? You were gonna let me believe that they were crazy for the rest of my life, Dad? And you were going to kill Haley? How could you do that?"

"You don't know the situation," Dan retorted as he walked past his son and into the kitchen. Pouring himself a glass of wine, he said, "Nathan, you don't know one thing about what is going on here."

"All I know is that you or that friend of yours in there is going to kill my wife and my child! Then what, Dad? You going to try and kill my brother and sister, too?" Nathan could feel his anger rising in him and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something flicker that looked suspiciously like flames.

Turning around, he saw that a pillow had caught on fire and cursed, seizing a pitcher of water from the wine rack and tossing it on the flame, dousing the fire.

"How did that happen?" he muttered, turning back to look at his father. Dan was staring where the flames had been, something of realisation crossing his face.

"So they cast the spell," he said quietly. "How very convenient. Nathan," he said suddenly, "what if I were to offer you a place for the people that I work for? Would you be interested?"

"Not a chance," Nathan retorted, heading towards the door. He didn't want to listen to Dan's explanation about Keith now. He'd had enough answers for one day.

But Dan's next question stopped him in his tracks.

"What if it were to save the life of your wife and child? And your brother and sister? What if I made sure that they remained unharmed, so long as you remained loyal to our master? Would you consider joining then?"

Nathan took a deep breath, not looking back at his father. He would do anything to protect Haley and their son. And if he could protect Lucas and Lily at the same time, then . . .

"Maybe," he said slowly, turning around to face him. "But answer me this, Dad: did you kill Uncle Keith?"

Something of anger flashed behind his eyes and Dan looked away before returning his gaze to his son. "I made a mistake, all right?" he said quietly. "And I tried to make that right by protect you in that Daunte incident. Nathan, if I hadn't, then you would be sitting in jail right now!"

"Daunte died on impact from the incident!"

"But did you know that then?" Dan was smiling dangerously. "You're more like us than you know, Nathan. Now, I am offering you the chance to join us and your family will be left alone. No games, no tricks, I assure you," he said calmly. "Now, do you want to look down the road and find that something happened to them, mostly caused by us, and you could've done something to stop it? Won't you be regretting it then?"

"Don't you dare threaten any of them," Nathan warned.

"I'm merely stating facts, Nathan. Do you want to take the chance that something could happen to them? Or do you want to take this offered choice of granting them safety from us? Demons and warlocks will always come after them, no matter what, Nathan. Only if you pledge allegiance with us, in exchange for their safety, will they be protected."

Nathan took a deep breath and looked into his heart. He knew that Haley would never forgive him for this, but he knew that it was the only way to protect her. If something happened to her . . . or to their son . . . or to his brother and sister . . . he'd never forgive himself.

"One, they will never be harmed," Nathan warned him. "And you won't try and recruit them." Dan nodded. "And two, they never find out about this, all right? Ever."

Dan smiled maliciously. "Of course not. Whyever would we want to do something like that?"

"Then you've got a deal."


	11. Everything Is Going to Change

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Eleven: Everything Is About to Change

"So you think that somebody saw Keith's murder?" Lucas said slowly, staring at his sister. She nodded once, leaning back on the couch. "But it doesn't make any sense . . . if there was a witness, why haven't they come forward before now?"

"I had a premonition, Luke," Lily insisted. "And I don't think that those are wrong. Sure, they can be changed, but this was of the past. And the past can't be changed." She sighed. "They could be afraid. If Dan could do that to his own brother, then what else is he capable of doing?"

Hearing almost his own words come out of his sister's mouth, Lucas sighed, thinking back to the wedding with Jules. He hadn't thought that Dan could do much more to Keith. He was wrong.

"Okay, let's say for a minute that you're right, how are we supposed to find this person and persuade them to come forward? It's not like we can say that we know that they were there because you had a premonition of the day of the shooting."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Luke, that would be ridiculous and completely insane. We'd be carted off to the metal institution along with our dear father if we told her that. And it's a her, by the way. The person I saw in the hallway was a girl."

"Okay, well, then how to propose that we ask her for help?"

His sister sighed. "Luke, close your eyes, keep your mind open, and think back to the hallway that day." Shaking his head, Lucas did as she instructed, though he wondered if she was crazy for a moment. "Picture Keith the last time you saw him, and Jimmy as you're holding Peyton by that doorway. Can you see them in your mind?"

"Yeah . . ." Lucas was having a hard time keeping the picture in his head and it was hazy . . . oh, so hazy . . . "Yeah, I can see them."

"Jimmy's holding the gun." Lily's soft voice was mystical and soothing as she guided him through the memory. "He's holding it on Keith as our uncle talks to you. What did he say, Luke?"

"Told me that he loved me," Lucas said shakily. "And to get out of there. It was the last thing he ever told me."

"And you looked away from Keith towards Jimmy," Lily said gently. "Straight at the gun. Look over the gun, Lucas. Look into the blinds in the office behind Jimmy. What do you see?"

The same question that Keith had asked him made Lucas almost break contact with the memory, but instinct made him hold onto it. Though every second was tearing him up inside, he looked over the gun, his eyes catching something that he somehow knew that he'd seen the day of the shooting.

A girl with short, brown hair peering out through the blinds, staring at them all, witnessing everything.

His eyes flew open and Lucas stared at his sister in surprise. "There really _was_ someone there," he whispered. "I saw her that day."

"And that's how we're going to find her," Lily agreed. "Come on, let's go drag up your yearbooks and see if we can't figure out who she is."

Standing up, Lily was about to head into his bedroom when the kitchen door flew open and Brooke dashed into the room, looking wild-eyed and scared. "Have you two seen the news?" she asked without bothering to greet either of them with so much as a hello.

"Nice to see you, too, Brooke," Lily said dryly as she closed the door behind her.

"Never mind that," she retorted, picking up the remote and turning on the television. "You guys have to see this. It's on every station."

"What is?" Lucas asked, puzzled.

The moment that she turned on the television, his question was answered, however. On the screen was a caption that read, **BREAKING NEWS, DAN SCOTT'S BREAKOUT**

"_Yesterday morning at approximately eleven o'clock, Mayor Dan Scott, who had been arrested with the alleged murder of Daunte Jones, escaped from the jailhouse, where he had been held without bail under investigation of insanity,_" the news reporter informed the three teenagers who were watching. "_While escaping, Scott attacked and murdered one of the guards on duty and seriously injured another. Police believe that there may be another criminal involved in his escape, but their identity is still a mystery. Anyone with information, please call the police at . . ."_ A number appeared in red numbers on the screen and the story concluded.

Lily reached for the remote in Brooke's hand and turned off the television. "I was worried about this," she mumbled, running a hand over her face. "It's not like we have enough going on without having to worry about our lunatic of a father coming after us."

"Don't you think you're being a little over-dramatic?" Brooke questioned, glancing towards her boyfriend's sister with a small smile. "I mean, sure, Dan is completely crazy, but that doesn't mean that he's going to come after you two. Does it?" she asked, looking at Lucas worriedly.

The two siblings looked at each other before returning their attention to Brooke. Lily sighed and got to her feet. "You explain," she told him. "I'll go through your yearbooks."

As she left her brother with Brooke, she closed his door behind her, leaning against the wall and sinking onto the ground, her eyelids fluttering closed as she leaned her head back.

Although she wasn't about to admit it to Lucas, she had the terrible feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong. And she somehow had the feeling that their brother was somehow connected with their father's escape.

If only she could have known . . . everything was about to change for them . . . everything that they held dear was about to be torn apart and thrust in two . . . her world was about to be thrown apart again . . . and the people she had come to love would be threatened . . .

Lily bit back a sob as she buried her head into her face. The door opened slightly and she felt Lucas sit down beside her, Brooke on her other side. She shook her head, trying to control her tears.

"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?" she asked quietly without looking up at them.

Both Lucas and Brooke said nothing, just held onto her, enveloping her in a tight hug and the three friends hugged, united by their pain and fear.

--

"So, your son has agreed to work for us under the condition that his family, including your illegitimate children, are to remain unharmed?" remarked the shadowy figure that now stood in front of Dan. The witch-turned-warlock himself was kneeling down beside the figure.

"Yes, my lord," he answered quietly.

"This will not do," the shadow replied, standing up. "I have already dispatched some of my best demons to attack Haley James tonight, after they have assassinated the elder two of your children, of course. Of course, he doesn't need to know that. We can have it ruled an accident, just like we managed to kill the Bryant woman without her daughter suspecting a thing."

Dan looked up. "Are you telling me that the girl's mother is dead?" he asked slowly.

"You did know of this?"

"No, my lord Ksane," Dan said quietly. "But I am relieved that I did not have to take care of it myself."  
"Careful, Scott, you tread of shallow ground when you take action without my permission," the shadow responded. "But nevertheless, you are right. The woman was too much trouble. And her daughter will be as much, I'm afraid. My Seer has foreseen it."

"What does she see?" Dan asked cautiously, not wanting to rise Ksane's anger any further.

There was a long pause that Dan almost thought that Ksane was not going to answer. But then he spoke.

"It appears that the girl is more powerful than we could have possibly have anticipated. Her birth was so unlike her brothers'. Kept hidden from the father, sealed away from the place that had been her heritage for centuries, and taken away from her family that she longed to return to. But coming here has reawakened the powers that have been bound from all three of the siblings. If their powers combined can tame the beast, then we are doomed. Only by eliminating them can the prophecy surely never be fulfilled."

"Prophecy, my lord?" Dan honestly didn't know what he meant by that. He never thought that the girl could be prophesised. She was nothing more than a nuisance.

A low chuckle escaped from Ksane. "If you don't know of it, then I'm not going to tell you, Scott. And you'd better pray that she doesn't find out about it or either of your sons, because if they do, then we're done for."

Dan nodded. "Then you are going to continue your attack on the siblings and the James girl tonight, sir?"

"Of course," Ksane agreed. "They'll be wiped out by morning and your son will be none the wiser. Just keep him down here to prevent him from finding out what we've been up to and everything will go according to plan." He paused. "You've done well so far, Scott. See that it continues and that your son doesn't turn his back on us."

But Dan knew, as Ksane probably knew, that the moment that his demons attacked the Scott clan, Nathan would turn his back on him. His only allegiance to evil was to protect his family.

And once his family was gone, then he would have no reason at all to stay with them.

No reason at all.

Sometimes as the years went by, Dan regretted not telling his son about his heritage, his birthright. But every time that he thought about telling him, he knew that if Nathan would ever accept the evil that was his destiny, he had to first become more like his father than he would ever have imagined or cared to think about.

But the plan had failed. Instead of becoming a traitor to his own kind and turning his back on his family of good magic, Nathan had allied himself with good and married a sweet and warm-hearted girl who had taught him about love. And Nathan had fallen for it, tooth and nail.

And now that Haley was pregnant with his grandson, then Nathan would do anything to protect her and his brother and newly discovered sister. Dan was disgusted by his son's actions. He never would have imagined that he would ever ally himself with those witches.

His only hope was that somehow, Nathan would swallow his lies and believe that he had nothing to do with the attack. Because if he didn't, then Nathan would abandon him and Dan would face certain death. Not something that he would prefer.

And had Dan been born with Lily's power of premonition, he would have known that everything was going to change. And not in the favour of evil.


	12. The Prophecy of Siblings Three

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Twelve: The Prophecy of Siblings Three

It was late at night as Lily lay awake in her apartment, flipping through the Book of Shadows. Lucas had agreed that it was probably safest with her, though she was trying to find a spell to protect it from demons while she wasn't there to protect it.

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Lily was debating whether or not to call it or night when the pages began flipping themselves. Jumping back in a mixture of alarm and surprise, she stared down at the Book as they settled down on a page and remained perfectly still.

Her heart still beating a bit faster than it usually was, Lily pulled herself closer to the Book again, staring down at the page that it had settled on. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly when she read the title.

_"The Prophecy of the Siblings Three,"_ she whispered, biting her lip fretfully. She shook her head, not wanting to read any further, and shut the Book, about to put it away when it opened up again and turned the same page.

"Okay, whoever is doing that, would you please stop?" Lily snapped, glaring furiously at up at the ceiling. The invisible presence, however, ignored her plea when she closed it again. It merely opened the Book up again.

Giving up on arguing with the presence/ghost/annoying person who wasn't of the living, Lily looked down at the page, her eyes travelling down it.

_"When a witch betrays his clan,_

_and his children of three appear,_

_a triad of witches will become one._

_A witch born of evil._

_An angel born to witches._

_A witch of ghost power._

_But when their powers are released,_

_one shall betray the clan,_

_to save the others. _

_For a quarter moon's turn,_

_will the triad's power be broken._

_If remained broken, their power will fail._

_If joined together, their power will prevail._

Lily had her mouth covered by the time that she had finished reading and stared at the page in a mixture of shock and horror. The prophecy was all too clear to her. It was labelled _The Prophecy of Siblings Three_ and siblings three meant her, Lucas, and Nathan.

The witch born to evil was obviously Nathan, because he was a witch who had demonic background, through his mother, Deb.

But the other two descriptions eluded Lily, because as far as she knew, neither she nor Lucas had angel backgrounds. Of course, her mother had many secrets and each of them sometimes were of grave importance. But her mother an angel of some sort? Was it possible?

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lily suppressed a sigh. If her mother _had_ been an angel, then it would become apparent with time. She just had to be patient.

But what bothered her the most was the part about one of them betraying their family in order to save them. She knew that Lucas would never turn his back on his family unless there was no other way to save it. He'd told her about the deal he'd made with Dan in order to leave their uncle alone when he'd been engaged to a woman who'd been hired by Dan to seduce Keith. But Lucas knew better by now to make deals with Dan. They both knew what kind of man he was.

But Nathan? Nathan didn't believe her when she'd told him about Dan and she hadn't seen him since that event. Was it impossible that he had made a deal with Dan for them to leave his family alone if he swore allegiance to evil?

With a small sigh, Lily leaned her head back against the head of her bed, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. The prophecy didn't mean anything; just because some ghost was trying to . . . to . . .

Her eyes flew open when she felt the presence again, the same one that she'd felt when she had closed the Book and it had mysteriously opened again, she gasped aloud.

"Uncle Keith?" she whispered. "What's happening?"

Nothing else, however, happened, and the young witch was left to ponder what she had just learned and try and discover what to do with it.

--

Lucas was lying awake in his room, much like his sister, in a disturbed state. They had discovered the girl in Lily's premonition was Abby Brown, a girl that he remembered had been in the school that day. She had given him an odd, strange sort of look, torn between pity and understanding, but hadn't spoken to him.

Suddenly, he had the strangest feeling that he was being watched and looked up. At that moment, he could've sworn that he was going to have another heart attack when his eyes fell upon the spectral figure that was standing in the room.

"Keith?" he gasped, throwing his blankets aside and standing up. His uncle nodded, but didn't move. "What's going on? What are you doing here? And—" His throat constricted. "How can I see you?"

"You'll have to learn that in your own time, Luke," Keith said gently. "But for now, you have to get yourself to Nathan's apartment. Lily, too. Both of you have to go and you have to save your brother, before it's too late. Otherwise everything that generations of witches have fought for is lost."

"What do you mean?"

But his uncle shook his head. "You'll find out soon enough, Luke. Go to Lily, get her, and then go to Nathan's."

"When?"

"Now," Keith answered. "You'll see why."

Before Lucas could comprehend the meaning of his uncle's words, he had vanished on the spot.

Lucas remained frozen for a moment, but then his reason caught up with his instincts and he bolted from his room, snatching up the keys off of his dresser and grabbing his jacket and cell phone as he went.

As he turned on the engine, Lucas dialled his sister's phone. Almost instantly, she answered. "Hello?"

She didn't sound half-asleep, so Lucas knew that he hadn't woken her up, despite the late hour.

"Lils, it's me," he said. "Listen, I don't have time to explain, but I need you to meet me outside your apartment building in ten minutes. We need to get over to Nathan's." Even to him, his voice sounded desperate and worried, something that his sister noted.

"Luke, what is it?" she asked, instantly alarmed. "What's going on? Is it Nathan?"

Wondering if it was her sisterly instincts or her precognition one, Lucas answered, "How'd you know?"

"I can hear it in your voice," she answered. "Besides, I just read this thing in the Book and I think that it might have something to do with why Dan escaped from prison. Luke, he wants to turn Nathan against us, to stop some power from forming."

"What power?"

_"Our_ power," she answered. "Some kind of prophecy thing. Apparently, we have some united power against evil. It said that if for a quarter moon's turn, the power between us would be broken and if it remained broken, then it will fail, but if it was joined again, it would prevail. Something like that."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that our brother could possibly have joined our murderer father? Why would he do something like that?" Lucas demanded incredulously. Surely Nathan knew better than to try and reason with Dan; he was a lunatic, even before they'd found out he'd killed his brother.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Lily agreed, her voice dry. "But the prophecy says that one witch will betray their family to save them. I think Nathan's going to try and make a deal with Dan so that he'll leave us alone."

"Remind me to knock him upside the head next time I see him."

"That's not so funny, Luke. But I doubt Dan will keep his end of the bargain, if he's even the one whose behind all of this. Somehow, I think that there's someone bigger behind this and that's who Dan's working for and trying to lure Nathan's evil side out."

"Why do you think that?" Lucas asked, intrigued.

"I dunno. It's just something that Keith said when I saw him in the graveyard," Lily said, musing. "He said that Deb was hired by someone to take Dan out, but when he fell to evil—"

"So you think that whoever Deb worked for is the one Dan is working for?" Lucas said slowly.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," she agreed. "I know it sounds crazy, but . . . I mean, no crazier than three teenagers who happen to be witches and have different mothers and one of them is half-demon."

"You've got a point there," Lucas laughed. "By the way, I saw Keith tonight." He said this so casually that it startled his sister for a moment.

"WHAT? What do you mean, you saw our uncle? You mean you summoned him there?" she asked, frowning.

"No . . . no, he just sort of appeared, I guess. I don't know, Lils, but one minute he was there and the next he wasn't. But I think I was the only one who could see him. If you or Nate had been there, I don't think you could've seen him. When I asked him how I could, he just said that I'd find out in time."

"Of course," Lily breathed. "You're the witch with ghostly power. The prophecy mentioned this, the three siblings. A witch born to evil, an angel born to witches, and a witch with ghostly power. That must mean you, Luke. You must been the witch with ghostly power. It's got to be."

Lucas frowned. "But if that's true, then Nathan would be the witch born to evil and then you would be the angel born to witches. Last I knew, Lils, your mom wasn't an angel, was she?" It sounded absurd, even laughable, but considering everything that had happened recently, he wasn't sure if it was really that ridiculous.

"Not that I know of, but a prophecy is a prophecy, Luke. They always come true, in the end."

"Okay, we've been witches, for what, less than a week, and you already know all of this?" Lucas couldn't help grinning.

"Don't make fun, big brother," she said. By her voice, he knew that she was grinning.

Lucas grinned too, realising what she had just said. "You do realise that's the first time that you've ever called me that?"

"That's not true, I called you that when you were unconscious in the hospital. Actually, that's how Brooke found out about me."

"Oh . . ." Lucas pulled into the parking lot, flipping off his phone as he did so. Lily climbed into the car and immediately, he speeded off. "Okay, so, I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but more than likely, it has something to do with this turning Nathan thing."

Lily paused. "Luke, do you think it's possible that our enemies know about the prophecy and want to get rid of us?" She sounded slightly alarmed now, but whether it was her precognition power or her own fears, he wasn't sure.

"We're gonna get through this, Lily," he told his sister reassuringly. "I promise you, the three of us are going to survive this."

His sister nodded once, although she didn't look convinced, as they raced towards Nathan and Haley's apartment.


	13. First Demon

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Thirteen: First Demon

Haley hobbled on her crutches to get a glass of water, glancing at the clock. It was after one o'clock in the morning and Nathan _still_ wasn't home. Ever since Lily had come here and told him something about Dan, he'd been distant. Out early, in late, and would barely even talk to her. Certainly, he wasn't telling her what was going on.

"Nathan, where are you?" she whispered, worried. She placed her hand over her stomach, trying to calm her worries. Her son didn't need her to be under any more stress than she already was.

What Haley would find ironic later was that almost as soon as she thought this, she heard someone behind her and the person grabbed hold of her, clasping his hand over her mouth, preventing her from screaming. "No calling for help, Mrs. Scott," a sinister voice warned. "You and your little baby are going to be dying tonight. And pretty soon, your husband's siblings are going to join you."

Struggling to get free, Haley bit him and he howled, releasing his hold on her. As Haley managed to get away, she caught her first full look at her attacker and was barely able to muster a scream.

Because the man who was standing in front of her was most definitely _not_ human. Oh, sure, he was human-like, but his skin was a magenta colour and his eyes were pure black, without a speck of white to them. He was much taller than any human that Haley had ever met and he was holding a flame in his hand, smiling maliciously as Haley backed away, fear traipsing through, much more than when she had been hit by that car and almost lost her life and her son's.

"What are you?" she whispered, terror evident in her voice. _Someone come,_ she begged silently. _Let someone come. The police, Lucas, Lily, Nathan, _anybody_! Just come!_

"Someone who is going to be rewarded for your demise," the creature said coldly. Just as he shot the flame towards her, the door burst open and two figures appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, my god, Haley!" she heard Lucas yell just as she felt the intense heat coming towards her. She slammed her eyes shut, unable to watch her untimely death approach. It was unbearable and so . . . so . . . cold.

Haley slowly opened her eyes and saw that Lucas and Lily were standing in front of her, and Lily had her hand held out in front of her and ice was coming out of it, combating the fire. The fire and ice combination was too much and it exploded. Lucas pulled Haley underneath the island, shielding them from the blast and seconds later, Lily was next to her.

Only when it had cleared did the two siblings stand up and look towards the place where the creature had stood. Haley struggled to her feet and Lucas helped her, holding her tightly when he was sure that the danger was passed.

"What was that?" she whispered, looking towards the place where the creature had been standing. The only thing that marked where it had stood was a scorch mark on the floor. It must've been taken out by the blast. "And how did you do that?" she added to Lily fearfully.

Lily glanced quickly at Lucas, who exchanged just as quick a look with his sister, biting his lip. "It's a long story, Hales," she answered softly. She raised her hand and pulled it through her dark hair, staring at the scorch mark, something flickering behind her green eyes. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"We're witches," Lucas replied when Lily didn't continue. Lily shot him a dirty look. "What?" he asked. "She's going to have to find out eventually, isn't she?"

"Yeah, when _Nathan_ decided it was the right time to tell her, when we've finally got through our brother's head what we are and where we come from and what our father has done," Lily retorted.

"Enough!" Haley said before the two could continue this. She had to sit down. Hobbling over to the couch, she took a seat and looked at the two siblings. "Now, what do you mean that you're witches?"

"It kind of started a couple of weeks ago, when you guys were in the hospital," Lily explained. "Luke—" She turned towards her brother now. "Actually, maybe you should tell her, Luke, she knows you better."

Lucas sat down and explained everything that had happened in the past few weeks. By the time that he was finished, Haley was sure that she was going to pass out from everything.

"So now my husband is working with these . . . what did you call them? Demons?" Both Lily and Lucas nodded. "And Deb is one of them, making Nathan half-witch and half-demon and Dan is going to try and turn him to the dark side, which he has to do before the quarter moon's turn is up—"

"Which is only a few days," Lily put in.

"Right, and if he succeeds, then what happens?" Haley looked towards each sibling in turn. "What'll happen if he achieves that?" Her heart was hammering in her chest as the siblings looked at each other again. They seemed to be having a mental conversation, trying to decide how much to tell her.

"We're not exactly sure, Hales," Lucas said finally. "I mean, Lily has found a prophecy is our _Book of Shadows_, but there's not a very good idea of what will actually happen."

Lily sighed. "What we _think_ will happen is that whoever Dan is working for will try and steal our powers so he can use them to conquer the demonic world and ultimately this world, too."

"Steal your powers?" Haley was astonished. "Why would he steal your powers if he has his own? And how could he?"

Again, the two siblings exchanged a fleeting glance. "Well, our combined powers, with Nathan's, have enough to stop him. And if we don't have our powers, then we can't stop him. Without Nathan, we can't stop him," she added quietly. "And the only way that he could steal them . . ."

"Would be by killing us," Lucas said quietly. Haley froze when she heard this, her head started to hurt and the room started spinning . . .

"Haley!" she heard Lily exclaim before everything went black.

--

"I think that we told her to much," Lucas said dryly as he helped Lily prop the unconscious Haley into the back of the car. "So, where are we going, exactly?" He looked at his sister.

"We got to figure this out," Lily replied. Her green eyes were determined as she climbed into the passenger's seat while Lucas took the driver's. "And I think that only person who might have an idea on how we can stop it is the one who pretty much started this eighteen years ago, when she went after Dan." She looked towards Lucas.

The eldest Scott's mouth went dry. "You don't mean . . ." he began and she nodded. "You want to go and demand explanations from Deb?"

Lily sighed. "Luke, she's the only person who might have an idea of what Dan might be planning. At the very least, she can give us some information about who he's working for and what he wants."

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I, but we don't have any other option," Lily pointed out, suppressing a sigh. "All we can do is take a leap of faith and hope that somehow, it all works out."

--

After they had dropped off Haley at Karen's, who promised to keep an eye on her, Lily and Lucas entered the rehab facility, led by a doctor who would take them to see Deb. Lily frowned slightly at the blonde woman that she knew had to be her demonic stepmother.

She looked a horrible mess, probably as a result of her pill habit, and she didn't look like she was going out of her way to rehab herself. Deb Scott looked up at them as they entered.

"Oh, goodie, visitors," she said sarcastically. "I was so looking forward to them. Did you bring Nathan with you?" she asked hopefully, looking towards Lucas, who shook his head. "Then what are you doing here? And with her?" she added, glancing towards Lily.

Both siblings blinked in surprise. "Wait a minute, we know each other?" Lily questioned, racking her brains. She was positive that she had never met Deb before in her life. But why would she recognise _her_ if she hadn't? Especially in her state.

Deb rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed. "Of course I've met you, Alyssa, you were trying to thwart my attempts to assassinate Dan all those years ago. A feat that I wish I'd succeeded at," she added coldly.

Now Lily understood. She didn't know her, she thought that she was her mother. "No, I'm not," she said. Deb glanced up at her. "I'm not Alyssa. My name is Lily Bryant, I'm Alyssa's daughter and your stepdaughter, Deb. Dan is my father and I'm Nathan's half-sister."

It took a moment for Deb's rehabilitative state to understand what Lily was telling her. "Dan does not have a daughter, all right? It would be impossible for him to have one. The Cromwell line hasn't had a daughter since Anna, the beginning of it."

"Well, she is," Lucas said, interrupting the argument that was starting to brew. "But that can be discussed later, Deb. We need to ask you some things, stuff about who you were working for when you met Dan."

Deb's glazed eyes turned towards her stepson, resting on him for a moment. But she recognised him. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lucas," she said coldly.

"Keith told us that you were hired to assassinate Dan when you first met him and instead, he became one of you," Lily said quietly. "We know everything, Deb, about us being witches, that you were a demon. That our brother is half-demon and half-witch. And now Dan is trying to convert Nathan to evil and we need your help to prevent that." The moment that she said Nathan, Deb rose a little higher in her chair, staring at Lily. "We need your help, Deb," she repeated. "Your son needs you. Will you help us save him?" Lily took a deep breath, waiting for her to speak.

Deb stared at her for a moment before turning her attention to Lucas, then back again. "You really are Alyssa's daughter, aren't you?" she said quietly. "That little angel had the arrogance to bear Dan a child, did she?"

Lily blinked, casting a quick glance at Lucas, who looked just as shocked as her. _Luke, the prophecy—_

_Of course! _he said, looking amazed. _"The angel born to witches." We were right about that. _

"And she's really your sister?" Deb asked, glancing at Lucas, not having noticed the silent exchange between the two siblings. Lucas nodded. "What's going on with Nathan?"

"We think that he's made a pact with Dan in an attempt to keep Haley and us safe," Lily answered, "but we're not sure. Will you help us?"

Deb frowned slightly, staring at them. But she seemed to have broken out of her rehabilitative state, because she stood up and walked across the room, closing the door securely.

"All right," she said tensely. "What do you want to know?"


	14. Saving Nathan

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Fourteen: Saving Nathan

"My family had been working for Ksane for over a century, ever since my father made a bargain with him for more power. He was an extremely powerful and influential demon, but he forgot to include the side note that we would only receive the power after living in servitude for three hundred years." Deb shook her head, looking depressed. "Cooper had the right idea, stripping his powers and living as a mortal."

"So, why exactly did this Ksane guy want you to go after you in the first place?" Lily wanted to know, looking worried. "I mean, why did he want Dan eliminated?"

Deb sighed. "If I knew the answer to that, perhaps I would've left Dan all those years ago. All I know is that when I was sent to eliminate him, turning him was a better idea in his eyes. But when we fell in love and produced Nathan, he grew wary of our alliance."

"Because of the prophecy?" Lucas guessed, glancing sideways at his sister, who looked back at him.

"Prophecy?" Deb blinked, leaning back in her chair, lost in thought. "Actually, yes, I do believe that he mentioned a prophecy once or twice while I was down there. He seemed to be worried about your power, Lucas, and that Dan would father another child." Her gaze flickered towards Lily. "Obviously, he didn't know about your sister."

"I would say it's highly unlikely that he still doesn't. But the question is, what is it that he wants with Nathan?" Lily stood up and started pacing back and forth across the room. Her brown hair whipped around in her face each time that she turned. "To stop this power from forming?"

"Highly probable," Deb murmured. "With one of you gone, it will stop this power from forming. One gone or even turned ends the threat."

"The prophecy also said that we would be broken for a quarter moon's turn," Lucas pointed out quietly. "So unless we can turn Nathan back, then he'll be turned forever to evil, unredeemable. And then he'll come after us."

"And kill us." Lucas's head snapped towards his sister as she said that, shocked. "Come on, Luke, don't pretend like you don't know that. Dan wants him to kill us and Haley, so that he'll be forever sworn to evil. Don't you get it? Killing his brother, sister, wife, and child could be what turns him permanently. We won't be there to keep him, however slightly, on the side of good. And the fact that he killed his family could destroy him."

Lucas hated to admit it, but she could be right. "But I still don't get why Nathan would do something like this. It's not like he would go with Dan if he knew what Dan has done. Two years ago, maybe, but he's different now. He met Haley," he added quietly, frowning slightly.

"See if this helps," Deb said helpfully. They looked towards the demon. "I thought about stripping my powers and taking Nathan away from Dan once or twice when he was a child. The only reason that I didn't was that Ksane and Dan threatened to kill both Nathan and the people that I cared about. Nathan is my son, too, which means that he could be allying himself with Dan so that he can keep Haley and the baby safe."

The two elder Scott siblings looked at each other. "And maybe us, too," Lily murmured. Her green eyes were slightly worried as they met Lucas's blue ones. "He might even be trying to protect us. But that didn't work out very well, now did it? The demons attacked tonight."

"And I doubt Nathan knows about it," Deb said with a satisfied nod. "If he did, then he would've gotten out of there by now. He would risk anything to protect Haley. We know that."

Lily glanced sideways at Lucas. "We have to find him and tell him what's going on," she said quietly.

"Are you crazy? After what happened the last time we tried to tell him something? That's how we got into this mess, remember?" Lucas shook his head. "Why should we go risking our necks for him, anyway?"

"Because he's our brother?" Lily said innocently. Lucas stared at her, remember his own words almost a year ago, with Keith. Her wide green eyes stared at him and he sighed, knowing that she would go whether or not he went with her.

"How are we supposed to find him, anyway?" Lucas demanded. "We don't know where he is, Lils."

A grin spread across her face and she shook her head, as though the answer to the problem was sitting right in front of them. "Telepathy," she answered simply.

--

Nathan had beads of sweat on his forehead as he struggled to conjure up the energy ball again. In the past day, he had been put into intensive training by his father, trying to summon his demonic powers.

That had been the blow of the century, finding out that his mother had been a demon assigned to kill his father when they met. Although it did explain why his father would marry her instead of abandoning her like he had Karen and Alyssa.

"Nathan, concentrate!" Dan snapped when he saw that his son was paying attention. Immediately, Nathan pulled his attention back to the present. "Pay attention and conjure it again."

"It's no use, Dad, we've been at this for almost a day," Nathan said, panting. "If I could just sit down for a minute—"

"I'm only doing what's best for you," Dan retorted, glaring at the boy. "Someday, you'll thank me. Besides, do you want your family to be the next target for my master?"

"Who would've thought you would bow down to someone," Nathan mumbled and received a fireball thrown at him in response.

"Don't talk back to me, boy!" Dan wasn't pleased with his reply. "I brought you into this world, Nathan, and I promise you that I can take you out of it. Now try again and this time, don't let your concentration slip."

More out of wanting to stop for a minute than anything else, Nathan concentrated, holding out his hand. The energy ball sputtered and started to gather energy. Unable to hold the energy ball for any longer, he threw it towards the wall, where it exploded on contact.

"That's _much_ better," Dan said approvingly. "Now do that about ten more times." Nathan stared at him in disbelief; he could barely stand. This was much worse than when he was riding him about basketball. Between these demonic lessons and basketball practices, he'd take basketball with Dan any day.

Fortunately, at that moment, another demon shimmered into the cave and motioned to Dan. It looked urgent, from the way that Nathan was watching and Dan looked worried. "Nathan, go take a break," he ordered. "There's some water over there," he added, nodding across the cave.

Panting with exhaustion, Nathan practically collapsed on the ground as he seized a bottle of water and drained it, too tired to care what the demon was talking to Dan about.

Ever since he had agreed to work for Dan and his demons, it had been a series of extensive training, trying to bring out his demon abilities. He had mastered shimmering almost instantly, but that wasn't an active power. Shimmering was just transportation. He'd also managed to learn how to use his fire power, but he couldn't control it. Not yet, anyway. He could summon it when he needed it, but couldn't control how strong it was or where it went.

The most difficult of all of these was learning how to conjure energy balls, which was what they were working on now. For some reason, the task was completely tiring Nathan and he couldn't grasp it as quickly as he had the other two. A block had formed around him to keep him from learning that power completely. Something that wasn't pleasing Dan.

_Nathan?_

Dropping the water when he heard his sister's voice, he whirled around, looking for the source of it, but to his intense relief, he saw no sign of Lily or Lucas. But he was so sure that it had been her . . .

_Nathan, you've got to stop this. _The blood drained from his face as he turned around again, hearing her voice. _Please, little brother, come back to us. We need you here. _

_Come on, Nate, you're not going to save anybody like this,_ Lucas's voice now joined Lily's. _Did you know that Dan and that Ksane guy already tried to kill Haley and the baby? They're not going to keep their promise, Nathan. Even if you continue down the evil path, they'll kill us one way or the other. They don't want to take the chance of us turning you good again. _

_How can I hear you?_ Nathan's thoughts drifted across his mind, connecting him with his siblings. _How can you hear me? _

_No time to explain,_ Lily replied, her mind-voice kind and gentle. _Nathan, please, you've got to come with us. Before it's too late, please. _She was begging him, Nathan realised, and it was hard to resist her when she asked him of that.

_Lily, you don't understand, _Nathan protested. _I've _got_ to do this. It's the only way to keep Haley and the baby safe. If I don't—_

_Demons have already tried to attack her, Nathan,_ Lucas snapped at him. _If Keith hadn't warned us, then they'd be dead right now. Listen to us, the only way to stop them is to defeat them once and for all. _

_You mean kill them. _

_I don't think we have much of a choice here, Nathan,_ Lily said in a small voice. _In this situation, I think its kill or be killed. Please, Nate, if you don't come with us now, then I'm afraid you never will. _

Her predicament made Nathan slightly afraid. _What do you mean? _he asked, his voice shaking.

_Lily has the power of foresight, _Lucas explained. _She can see the future. What has been, what is, and—_

_And some things that have not yet come to pass,_ Lily added softly. _This vision was one that has not yet come to pass. _

Before he could even ask, Nathan's mind was filled with an image that he had not implanted there himself. He tried to push it away, not sure he wanted to see, but Lily managed to get under his guards and force the image into him. Finally, he let her show him the image, but he knew perfectly well that whatever she was about to show him would cause him pain.

To his horror, he saw the image of himself, but it was not the Nathan Scott he'd been or the one he'd become. This Nathan was a power-hungry, vengeful demon whose only alliance was to power. The look in his eyes was so terrible that Nathan was terrified of himself.

To his horror, he realised that the other him was standing above his brother and sister. Haley was lying a few feet away, a pool of blood around him, and her face paler than any human's should be. Her limp arms were around a little boy around three or four years of age, but the boy too was dead, most likely killed by the man who now held Lily and Lucas prisoner. He had killed a little boy that obviously meant a lot to Haley.

His heart jolted when he realised that the little boy was his son. His and Haley's, the one she was pregnant with.

Pulling his attention from his dead family and to his brother and sister, Nathan watched in terror as the evil him conjured an energy ball more easily than he'd done all day and hurled it at Lily. She screamed as Lucas pushed her out of the way to take the attack for himself.

Lucas was thrown back by the blow and hit the wall across from them with such a force that if the energy ball hadn't killed him, then the wall would have. Lily screamed and ran to her brother side as evil Nathan conjured another energy ball.

She held Lucas in her lap as she looked up at Nathan. "Don't do this, Nathan," her voice echoed hauntingly, reminding Nathan this was only a vision. This wasn't real, but it sure felt like it. "Please, you're better than this. You're a good witch."

The evil Nathan laughed bitterly at her words. "You have no idea how wrong you are," he hissed and threw the energy ball.

Lily stopped the vision as Nathan tried to push it out of his mind, desperate to get away. _Don't you see?_ she asked softly. _If you continue down this path, then sooner or later, it's not going to be about saving your family. You're well on your way to becoming a more powerful demon than Ksane. Listen to me, Nathan, is that what you want to become?_

_No._ Nathan's mind voice was quavering and he wished that they were there, instead of just talking to him.

He knew they were right; this wasn't the way. There had to be another way to keep Haley safe. And he knew that the way lay with his siblings. He had to get back; he had to find them.

_All right,_ he said firmly. _All right. I'm coming. _

AN: Okay, guys, I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a long time, but to be honest, I really wasn't inspired a whole lot for the lack of reviews. So I am begging you, with all of my heart and soul, to review this chaper and the last one. If you do that, then I will be more inspired to write and then there will be a sooner update. Thanks!

The Lady of the Mists


	15. Rescue and Abduction

**The Other Scott**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Fifteen: Rescue and Abduction

"Okay, just out of curiosity, is there a plan involved in any of this?" Lucas wanted to know as Lily stirred a pot on the stove, adding another ingredient to the potion she was making. She'd found some defensive potion recipes in the Book and insisted on making them. "Or are we just going to go down there and blast apart some demons so we get our brother out?"

"Whatever works," Lily responded, ducking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "You know, you could be helping, big brother."

"With what?" Lucas shook his head. "Seems like you've got everything under control, besides you keep kicking me out of the kitchen whenever I did try and help you."

"Because that was not helping," Lily responded, glancing over at him. "You almost destroyed this potion that I'm working on."

"Lils, it's an exploding potion, how could I possibly destroy it?" Lucas wondered, only half-joking. She glared at him, placing a hand on her hip and the other on the counter, tapping her fingers against it. Her green eyes were hard as she stared him down, not looking happy with him. Lucas released a long sigh. "Do mothers teach their daughters that look?" he wanted to know. His mother and Brooke gave him that look all the time.

"Yes, of course," Lily answered, a small smile tugging at the side of her mouth and her face softened. "Could you please just try and write some vanquishing spells?" She pushed the Book towards him. "Here, I'm done with this. Try and look up this Ksane guy and see if there's a vanquishing spell that we can use. I'm almost done with this one anyway and then I can finish up the last potion. Then we can go."

"Last potion?" Lucas took a look around the table; there were potion vials everywhere. "Lily, we have enough potions here to last until our grandkids take over. What other potion do you need?"

"A, uh . . ." She cleared her throat, looking away. "A binding potion," she said quietly.

Lucas instantly understood. "For Dan?" he asked quietly. She nodded once without looking up. "Right. You really don't want to kill him any more than Nathan or I do, do you?"

"No," Lily whined. "I mean, yeah, he's probably a really bad jerk most of the time, but he is our father, for crying out loud. And . . . well, shouldn't that still mean something, even if our being his kids doesn't mean anything to him?"

Standing up, Lucas walked over to his sister and hugged her tightly. She sighed as she leaned against him, burying her head into his chest. "You know, I have never met anyone like you, Lils," he remarked. "Someone so kind and generous, who would do anything for their family. You've got _so_ much of our uncle in you."

"I've got a lot of you in me too," Lily told him, her voice slightly muffled as she allowed herself to be held by Lucas. Brother and sister stood silently together as the potion bubbled behind them. "Just promise me that we are going to keep him safe."

"I promise," Lucas said without hesitation, knowing that she was talking about their little brother. "Listen to me, Lily. We're not going to let anything happen to him, all right? Now, we are going to go down there and we are going to save him and all three of us are going to get out of there, _alive_. Then we are going to get home and be a family again. Or . . . finally," he corrected himself with a small smile.

Lily made a small smile as she looked at him. "Luke, I am so scared," she whispered. "I've got this really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something is going to happen tonight."

"Don't worry," Lucas told her as he wrapped his arms around her firmly. "I'll protect you, Lils."

"You're not all-powerful, Luke," she told him quietly. Her green eyes were sad, afraid, and upset all at once. She looked away from him as she turned to the potion again. "And I'm really starting to think that this was a bad idea, us becoming witches."

"It was bound to happen eventually," Lucas told her, but inside he was bewildered as to where this was coming from. Surely she couldn't be giving up now, right when they needed to believe in themselves the most? "It's our heritage, Lily, our birthright."

"Who says that we deserve any more than anyone else?" Lily asked quietly as she looked away. "I mean, why were they given to us instead of anyone else in Tree Hill? Why were we born into this family to be given such precious and amazing gifts? None of us have earned them!"

Lucas nodded once. "You're right about that," he answered. "We haven't proven ourselves worthy of having such powers. But you know, maybe we were given them so we _could_ prove ourselves."

She looked up at him, tears glistening in her green eyes, and she released a sigh. "I really shouldn't make this binding potion, should I?" she finally asked. Lucas smiled at her; both of them knew that Dan would probably find a way, as a human, to kill them if they succeeded tonight. And he'd keep coming after him, until he killed someone they cared about. "Right. No point in doing it. Just a waste of time."

Lucas placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I'll tell you what, I'll write a binding spell just in case," he assured her. She smiled at him as she added the final ingredient to the potion and a puff of smoke emerged from the pot. "All right, let's get started, then."

--

They appeared in a shimmer of light the moment that they cast the spell in the Underworld. At least, Lily assumed it was the Underworld. Where else would look like a cave that had been wasted away into nothingness with demons lurking around every corner? She squatted beside Lucas as he grasped her hand, peering through a hole in the floor as a demon meeting occurred underneath them.

" . . . has failed you, my lord Ksane," a voice was saying. "The girl witch vanquished him, sire. She and her brother and sister-in-law remain alive. Should we move forward to make another attempt to eliminate them, my lord?"

"How could you succeed when my best assassin has failed?" Lily glanced at Lucas; this, obviously, was Ksane talking. "No, we will wait for them here. No doubt they've discovered where their brother is and will be coming to rescue him soon enough. I prefer that plan. Good witches are so easy to manipulate," he said with a chuckle.

Lucas's eyes met Lily's and she took a deep breath, tightening her grip on Lucas's hand. _We've got to find Nathan now, before they realise that we're here,_ she thought. _Come on, let's get away from here. I don't want to take the chance of them hearing us. _

_Good idea. _Lucas helped her to her feet and they carefully edged away from the meeting, walking quietly down the hallway. _Hey, Nathan! Nate, can you hear me? _

_Loud and clear,_ their brother's voice called telepathically. _Please tell me that you're down here, because I can't take much more of this. _Nathan sounded exhausted, even in his mind, and Lily reached out with her mind, holding him tightly and gently. He let her embrace him, but said, _Where are you guys at? I think I'll be able to help guide you here. I haven't seen much of this place—_

_No, don't worry about it,_ Lily interrupted him. He felt confused at that statement. _Nate, we can follow your voice path. Trust me._

_Always. _

Lucas had his hands on Lily's shoulders as they walked through the tunnels, tracking Nathan through their telepathy. It wasn't until they reached the end of a tunnel that his connection to them ended and Lily looked around; they were at a dead end.

"Okay, now what do we do?" she inquired as she looked towards Lucas curiously. He frowned slightly, looking around them. "Maybe we should double back, see if there's another way in."

"Lily . . ."

"I mean, we followed his voice here, so that must mean that there's a way into that room there, we just found the wall.

"Lily!" Lucas was looking at her in exasperation. She looked at him, startled by his tone. "If there is one thing that I have learned lately, it's that things aren't always what they appear to be," he told her, looking around the chamber, studying it carefully.

"What do you mean?" Lily watched as Lucas walked forward, pressing his hands against the wall gently. "Luke, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find the key that'll open the door," Lucas answered without looking up. "Come on, help me out, will you?"

Lily rolled her eyes, remembering her statement to him earlier as she walked over to him, pushing her hands against the rocks, seeing if there was any movement. "Lucas, this is crazy, I mean there is no—" She stumbled over a rock, grabbing hold of a rock, which acted as a lever as it moved towards her, stopping after a few feet.

That was all it did to open the door. It slid open without hesitation, admitting the two witches. Lucas looked at Lily. "You were saying?" he asked as he helped her up. She glared at him as she hurried into the cave, spotting her brother immediately, chained to a wall.

"Nathan!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to him. "Jeez, what did they do to you?" she asked, staring at the state that he was in. He was covered from head to toe in bruises, cuts, and burns. She was amazed that he was able to even hold himself up; he looked exhausted and drained.

"Nothing that I didn't deserve," Nathan said miserably. He looked at them with pure regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry, guys."

"Don't worry about it," Lucas said as he worked on the locks. "Anyway, nobody deserves this, Nate."

"Where did you learn to pick locks?" Lily asked interestedly as she helped support Nathan once they were broke open. "Aren't you supposed to be the good one? Lucas Scott actually broke into some places?" He blushed, but shrugged carelessly.

"Just Dan's dealership," he answered. "Come on, Nate, we got to get you out of here."

"Little late for that, Lucas," a voice said from behind him. The three siblings turned around and found Dan standing behind them, looking practically murderous. "I must admit, I didn't think that you would actually come. You didn't strike me as being that stupid."

"Don't call him stupid!" Lily yelled, practically seething as she glared at him. Dan smiled then, looking towards her curiously.

"And you would be . . . Alyssa's daughter," he remarked. Lily's green eyes narrowed. "I wasn't expecting you to show up. After the number I did on your mother, I wouldn't have thought that you'd have the guts to come around the Underworld, let alone Tree Hill."

"Leave my sister alone," Nathan warned him. Dan looked at him, disappointment in his eyes.

"Nathan, you should have kept your promise to me," he said quietly. "You never should have attempted to leave here. Because now . . . your precious sister will die."

Before any of the siblings could react, a demon shimmered in behind them and yanked Lily away from Nathan. She screamed in surprise and fury and as Lucas lunged at them, he shimmered away with Lily in toe.


End file.
